Xander Schauffele Withdraws From Sentry Tournament of Champions With Back Injury

Xander Schauffele’s Sentry Tournament of Champions bid came to a close on Friday when he walked off the course with a back injury. 

The world No. 6 came into Kapalua hurting. He experienced similar pain at the Hero World Challenge in December, and showed further signs of an issue when he withdrew from this week’s Wednesday Pro-Am. 

Schauffele alerted officials that he could no longer play before completing his 27th hole. 

“It wasn’t getting better,” Schauffele’s father, Stefan, told Sports Illustrated. “Xander’s fear of maybe hurting it was the reason he withdrew.” 

Schauffele echoed his father’s statements, adding that his friends are pulling strings to get him an MRI as soon as possible. 

Despite posting a 3-under 70 on Thursday, the 29-year-old explained his discomfort to the media following his first round of the calendar year. 

Schauffele has yet to disclose the particular issue with his back, noting that there is pain “Somewhere on my back, posterior chain.”

As for how the injury has impacted his play, Schauffele shared how he compensated during his round. 

“Speed’s down,” said Schauffele. “Kind of just swinging, a little powderpuffing it out there on a few holes.” 

“I needed to lean on my putter on days like this when you’re kind of just chipping it around. I’ve done it at home. You know what I mean? Just chip it around the property. When it’s kind of cold and you don’t feel great, you just chip it around and then you just got to make some more putts. You got to kind of score a lot better and I didn’t really do that,” he continued.