Surprise, surprise. Xander Schauffele is on the front page of a major championship leaderboard.
The 2024 PGA Championship winner carded a 2-under 69 on Thursday, a round that featured three birdies and only one bogey. That blemish came on the par-3 14th after briefly holding a share of the lead with Justin Thomas and Shane Lowry. Though bogies are best avoided, plenty of others like Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, and Tiger Woods made many more. Royal Troon showed its teeth on Thursday as a southerly wind created havoc for the field.
Yet, Schauffele charted his way around the Ayrshire course masterfully.
“You start off with five or six holes into the wind. I was lucky to be under par there,” Schauffele said.
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“If you’re over-par early, it’s just being patient and feeling the need to chase, especially on a Thursday, is a difficult thing. [My caddie] Austin [Kaiser] and I came up with a good plan. It’s cliche, but we really just kind of plotted around the property.”
With a blistering cross-wind, Schauffele hit a gorgeous approach on the par-3 5th, as his tee shot landed eight feet away. He converted that for his first birdie of the day and then made another par-breaker at the short par-3 8th, the most famous hole on the course known as ‘The Postage Stamp.’
An outstanding birdie followed at ‘The Railway,’ the par-4 11th that was the most challenging hole on the PGA Tour during the 2015-16 season—the last time Royal Troon hosted The Open. Schauffele rolled in a 36-footer from the right side of the green to get to 3-under on the day.
He now sits three back of Lowry and Englishman Daniel Brown, who each shot a 5-under 66 to soar to the top of the leaderboard on day one.
But Schauffele would not be contending if not for his observations on the driving range ahead of his round.
“Luckily, the range was similar to the 1st tee, so try to visualize some shots on the range. You put your machine down, and you see, okay, this is hurting, a high ball 40 yards, and then you move through the bag, and you try to find the center of the face and see how much the ball is moving. You try to hit it straight, draw it, cut it, all those things,” Schauffele explained about playing in the wind that players had never faced before.
“If the [wind on the range] blew left to right for some reason, it would have been really hard for me to get to that 1st tee feeling super comfortable. Fortunately, I was able to get comfortable early on.”
When is Schauffele not comfortable?
He has looked so relaxed in each major this year, evidenced by his breakthrough at Valhalla in May. The same could be said for his first round Thursday, as he watched Woods, his playing partner, hit it all over the place in brutal conditions.
Schauffele will no doubt remain stoic as the week wears on. He always does. But if he can avoid the big mistakes, hit it in the right places, and plot his way around Troon as he did on Thursday, he will vie for another major championship come Sunday. He’s too good of a player not to.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.