Xander Schauffele Finds Every Fairway While Surging to Lead at Players Championship

The two-time major champion is in a far better place at TPC Sawgrass than a year ago, Bob Harig writes, shooting 65 on Friday in a good day for scoring.

Xander Schauffele hit every fairway Friday in a round of 65 at TPC Sawgrass. | Jeff Romance-Imagn Images

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Here’s something you rarely see in today’s game of pros bombing long tee shots and hitting short irons to greens:

A player who hits every fairway.

Xander Schauffele did that during the second round of the Players Championship on Friday at TPC Sawgrass, and not surprisingly, his name is atop the leaderboard.

That 14-for-14 line on the stat sheet looks pretty good, even more so when it is followed by 16 of 18 greens in regulation. Schauffele didn’t do much wrong in a round of 65 that saw him get to the halfway point of the PGA Tour’s flagship event at 134, 10 under par. (He had one three-putt green.)

“Yeah, wasn't aware of all the fairways hit,” Schauffele said afterward. “Definitely nice to hit all of them, especially on this property. Definitely for the most part I felt like I was in control and felt like I was attacking the golf course versus playing defensive.”

The result was a huge difference at this place a year ago, when Schauffele was in the midst of returning from an intercostal injury that saw him miss six weeks from early January until March.

His return a year ago was at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where the man who won two major championships in 2024 could be excused for a middling finish of tie for 40th that includes an opening-round 70.

But it was at TPC Sawgrass where Schauffele found his low point, including a 77–81 weekend that saw him finish last—72nd—among players who missed the cut.

For most of the year, Schauffele found himself struggling to catch up after missing the time early. He could never quite find the formula that saw him win the PGA Championship at Valhalla and the British Open at Royal Troon.

And he finally ran out of time, failing to qualify for the 30-player Tour Championship for the first time in his eight-year career.

Schauffele, whose wife had a baby in late August, played well at the Ryder Cup, going 3–1 in the U.S. defeat at Bethpage. And he then captured his 10th PGA Tour title late in the year at the Baycurrent Championship in Japan.

But he saw his Tour-leading 72-event cut streak end in January at the Farmers Insurance Open and has managed just a single top-10 finish since, a tie for seventh at the Genesis Invitational.

“I’m definitely hitting a lot of really good golf shots,” Schauffele said. “I think even earlier in this year I started hitting a lot of good golf shots again. 2024 was a year full of really good results, and right now I think we’re a little bit more focused on the process bit of it and trying to make sure things are sort of ironed out and in a decent spot, and then after that you go and compete.

“Mentally it’s definitely nice to have some results, but I enjoy working. It’s a lot of fun to try and get yourself back into a good spot, and obviously if you can reap the rewards quickly, that’s even better. But I know it’s a long deal here.”

It is. The conditions were relatively pleasant on Friday and Schauffele took advantage to lead Cameron Young (68) by one and Corey Conners by two.

He also finished 11 strokes better than defending champion Rory McIlroy, who a year ago won in a playoff over J.J. Spaun at the same time while Schauffele was returning from injury.

McIlroy had his only injury issue this week, returning after a lower back problem forced him to withdraw from the Arnold Palmer Invitational last Saturday and had him arriving only Wednesday to prepare for the tournament.

It is obvious that McIlroy was not sharp.

“I'm happy to be here for the weekend,” said McIlroy, who is 11 strokes back of Schauffele. “I'm happy to get two more runs at it. So yeah, like, it would have sucked to be going home this afternoon, so to hang around and hopefully play two more days, that's a win.”

Schauffele knows what that is like and glad to have given himself this opportunity.

“This is a really big tournament,” he said. “I think everyone sort of tries to come in with their whole team and feeling good and all those things. So just happy to be playing well right now.”