'It’s just Thursday': Past experience keeps Xander Schauffele grounded after historic 62

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Xander Schauffele was blunt, bordering on emotionless in his post-round assessment.

“It’s just Thursday,” he said. “That’s about it.”

Forgive Schauffele for downplaying his opening round 9-under 62 at Valhalla Golf Club, speaking like he just shot 72. The round was remarkably impressive – historic, even. It was just the fourth 62 in major championship history, but Schauffele has seen this before. He shot 62 in the opening round of the U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club last year. More importantly to him, he finished 10th, seven shots back of Wyndham Clark.

Schauffele is well beyond the stage of marveling at his accomplishments, especially those attached to a first-round result. Heck, unless they involve a Sunday night celebration with a trophy in his hand, he’s likely to shrug off the praise. Call it scar tissue, self-preservation or a masterful ability to stay in the moment, Schauffele has no interest in Thursday hyperbole or engaging in soliloquies of a record 18 holes.

Look no further than four days ago to understand why. Schauffele led Rory McIlroy by one shot entering the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship. The lead stretched to two shots through seven. Just 11 holes separated Schauffele from his first win in two years. Then came the onslaught that Schauffele couldn’t match. McIlroy played the next eight holes in 8-under to leave Schauffele in the dust.

It’s become a feeling all too familiar for Schauffele, who, by nature of his talent, puts himself in contention time after time. He’s the man in the arena, and he keeps getting beat. The aftermath of Wells Fargo was predictable, with the conversation naturally floating to a similar destination after every close call. The noise around Schauffele just keeps getting louder. Is his lack of victories a sign of an inherent inability to close? Or is it simply a series of bad breaks destined to come around for a golfer who consistently puts himself in a position to win? Aside from Scottie Scheffler, Schauffele has played in the most final round pairings (four) on the PGA TOUR this season. Scheffler has four wins. Schauffele has none. Scheffler bested Schaueffele in one of those instances, firing a final-round 64 to win THE PLAYERS Championship by one over Schauffele, who shot 70.

Only Rickie Fowler (13) has more top 10s in majors without a victory than Schauffele (12). And Schauffele continually puts himself at the forefront of these conversations. He has the lowest career first-round scoring average in major championship play among those who have appeared in at least 25 majors. Three of the other top five – McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson – have won multiple majors.

So, pardon Schauffele for playing coy. He’s gone through this song and dance too many times. There was no naivete that Thursday was anything more than a strong opening salvo.

“It's a great start to a big tournament. One I'm obviously always going to take,” Schauffele said.

Schauffele’s statistics resemble the resume of a major winner. He feels his game is good enough, too. It certainly looked the part Thursday as Schauffele went bogey-free. He made so many birdies that the first time he carded back-to-back pars came at Nos. 8 and 9, Schauffele’s last two holes of the day.

“I think not winning makes you want to win more, as weird as that is. For me, at least, I react to it, and I want it more and more and more, and it makes me want to work harder and harder and harder,” Schauffele said. “The top feels far away, and I feel like I have a lot of work to do. But just slowly chipping away at it.”

At times, the quest for victory feels like an individual battle – a war against yourself and your past failures. The results will come if you can just be a better version of yourself than the day before. In the long run, that’s likely true, and Schauffele admitted Thursday that he was probably playing the best golf of his career.

“There's spurts, moments in time where you feel like you can control the ball really well; you're seeing the greens really well; you're chipping really well. But over a prolonged period, it's tough to upkeep high performance,” Schauffele said. “Yeah, I'd say it's very close to it if not it.”

And if he’s won seven times on TOUR and contending in copious majors, surely that means the breakthrough is near. But over the next three days, the variables extend well beyond Schauffele and his demons.

First, there’s the golf course. Schauffle played an idyllic, windless and soft Valhalla that could not show its teeth because of early-week rain that neutered its challenges. Schauffele shot 62, but there were two 65s, two 66s and a boatload of 67s and 68s. Sixty-two players were under par in the first round, surpassing the PGA Championship record for the highest number of sub-par opening rounds (60), set in 2006 at Medinah Country Club.

Then there are the names attached to some of those scores. Sahith Theegala and Tony Finau are 6-under, both top 30 players. The two best players of the decade, McIlroy and Koepka, are at 5-under and 4-under, respectively. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Smith and Bryson Dechambeau all lurk at 3-under.

To assume Schauffele’s Thursday was anything more than a great start would discredit those who linger behind and the scars he still has to mend. So for now, that’s all it is – a great start. Schauffele’s hoping for a great finish.