Xander Schauffele overcame "getting hit in the face with a frying pan" at the Arnold Palmer Invitational to narrowly extend the longest active cut streak on the PGA Tour.
That blow to the face came in the form of a double bogey on the 11th hole, which he followed up with another on 12.
It left the two-time Major champion in danger of missing a first cut since the 2022 Masters, although he knuckled down to survive the back nine at Bay Hill, which is regarded as one of the toughest tests on the PGA Tour.
"Austin (Kaiser, his caddie) and I are proud of our cut streak, no doubt," he said afterwards. "Is it what we think about? No. But usually when you focus on winning you make a lot of cuts and end up somewhere in between."
Schauffele’s reaction to dropping four shots in two holes was to make birdies at 13, 14 and 16 to put himself on the right side of the cut line, and he made it safely through to the weekend despite dropping a shot at the 18th.
It means the 31-year-old has now made 58 straight cuts, which is the longest streak since Tiger Woods’ famous run of 142 events between 1998 and 2005.
"It's definitely a cool thing," he admitted. "I try really hard to not quit. Even today going double, double sitting in a really nice spot it was an easy time to get frustrated.
"But I said earlier in the week I'm going to have to go to a special place to play decent golf, and I had to dig deep. So it was good practice on that front."
Schauffele has long been regarded as one of the most consistent players in the game, but until last year he hadn’t won a Major Championship.
He got that monkey off his back at the PGA Championship, before adding The Open Championship to his CV at Royal Troon in July.
Although he’s a player with higher aspirations than making cuts, given this was his first start for six weeks after a rib injury. However, the way he finished off his round will have given him a lot of confidence ahead of next month’s Masters.
“I feel good, physically great,” he reflected. “My goal was just make it to the weekend, just so I can have two more rounds of golf. I just need as much golf as possible.
“I knew it was going to be tough and I'm glad I'm proud to make the weekend. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I am really happy I can get two more rounds of golf on a really tough property to try to get myself ready for hard tournaments for the rest of the year.”
