Xander Schaufelle lamented a tough break – and a couple of poor decisions – at the Zozo Championship that saw him card a quadruple bogey on the ninth hole to sit 10 shots behind the lead after the first round.
The World No. 2 was back in action at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Inzai, Japan for the first time since the Presidents Cup last month, and suffered a brutal break on the par-4 ninth when his tee shot wedged against a tree root.
Schaufelle attempted to pitch out from the “bad spot” twice before eventually taking his medicine and declaring an unplayable, leading to an eight on No. 9 and a three-over start to his tournament.
Despite what he described as a “pretty low stress” round for “the most part of the day”, Schaufelle was left to rue his poor decisions on the ninth that stained an otherwise clean card on day one.
“Yeah, overall it was pretty low stress for the most part of the day. Like 85 percent of the day was not very stressful,” he said after carding a three-over 73 for his round. “No. 9 just, it was an incredible spot. I wanted to take a photo of it almost, how bad it was.
“For me to think I can do anything definitely got me in a hole there. I should have just taken an unplayable, but I was an idiot and tried to hit it. Then I was stubborn and then tried to hit it again, then finally took an unplayable. I was going to hit it a third time too just because, but yeah, it was a bad spot.”
After taking two swipes at his ball on his second and third shots on No. 9, which “didn’t go anywhere”, Schauffele eventually took an unplayable.
He remained in good spirits at the time, choosing to laugh off his predicament, but admitted after his round that the “meltdown” was due to being “overconfident”.
“I thought at worst I would hit the ball, hit the tree and go somewhere. The worst thing happened, the worst thing that could have happened happened twice. Just a combination of being overconfident and being really stubborn and it sometimes pays off for me in tournaments and today it bit me in the ass.
“Making an eight on a par 4, I think I led bogey avoidance this last season. It's not something I've done in a really long time. It's probably been like a year since I had a meltdown like that. All you can do is laugh at it at that point because it's just terrible.”
Relatable 😅 Xander Schauffele laughs off a tough break after his tee shot wedges against a tree root. pic.twitter.com/4REO4G8Q2hOctober 24, 2024
However, the American was thankful that he still had three rounds to right his wrongs at the limited field, no-cut event, and was hopeful of being able to battle his way back into the tournament.
“If this was Sunday and I was in a really good spot and hit my ball – I don't know how it ended up there, I don't even know, if it hit someone; It was really in a crevasse – yeah, if it was Sunday I would be pissed.
“Today I'm just trying to brush it off. I've got three more days in front of me. Depending on what the leaders do tomorrow, it might be hard to get back into it. I'm going out in the morning, the greens should be a little less bumpy. If I can shoot seven, eight, something even lower, that would be incredible, or string together a bunch of three to five under par rounds and I could be right there.”
Schauffele also admitted that he was suffering from a little bit of rust in his first round back since helping the United States to victory at the Presidents Cup in Royal Montreal late last month.
“I didn't feel like I hit it really good or really bad. I've only played the Presidents Cup and then … that was it, played the Presidents Cup since Eastlake [at the Tour Championship]. So I haven't played a ton of golf.
“Overall a little loose on a couple iron shots, instead of hanging them to 15 or inside 10 feet, hitting them to 25 or 40 feet. I'll get the hang of it.”
Taylor Moore leads Max Greyserman, Nico Echavarria and Eric Cole after the first round by one stroke after shooting a seven-under 63.
