ATLANTA (AP) — Xander Schauffele isn't at East Lake for the first time in his career, the result of a rib injury that cost him two months at the start of the season. He never quite found any momentum in his game with his swing out of sync.
“It would be nice to have three months off. That would be ideal if we were being honest,” Schauffele said at the BMW Championship. “I feel like I need to get as far away from golf as possible very soon. That's how I feel.”
That's not the reality, however. Schauffele had such a big year in the majors last year — winning the PGA Championship and the British Open, top-10 finishes in the other two — that he was among the first to clinch a spot on the Ryder Cup team.
Three months? The Ryder Cup starts in 38 days.
Schauffele was among the players who confirmed to The Associated Press in July that the U.S. team planned to play at the Procore Championship in Napa, California, the week of Sept. 8-14, two weeks before the Ryder Cup. The exception would be Bryson DeChambeau, suspended when he bolted to Saudi-funded LIV Golf in 2022 and then was among those who sued the PGA Tour.
It might also be missing Schauffele.
“I'm not sure,” Schauffele said when asked if he would be there. “I haven't signed up yet. It would be nice to play, but if I don't think playing is going to help me, then I won't play.”
Despite his recovery from a rib injury that led to his swing getting out of sorts, Schauffele extended his cut streak to 71 — exactly halfway to the record held by Tiger Woods. He also managed six finishes in the top 12 and two top 10s in the majors.
“I think I understand more than I did before,” he said. “The frustration before was more not understanding why I was doing certain things. Now I know why I'm hitting it bad and don't know how to fix it. So, frustration for different reasons. I don't know what's worse.”
He kept his attitude in good shape — the California native is renowned for his positive attitude regardless of his results — and he looks forward to sorting it out.
“I love golf. I love trying to figure it out,” he said. “But it's been a trying year. I definitely need to hit the reset button. The next step will be to come back with a solid plan and stick to it.”
Georgia Homecoming
Harris English has more than $10 million in reasons why he would love to win the Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup.
He grew up three hours away in Moultrie, Georgia. He played college golf at Georgia, an hour away. The same could be said for Russell Henley, Sepp Straka or Brian Harman.
But it was the PGA Tour’s first trip to East Lake that inspired a 9-year-old Harris English.
“I came out here in 1998,” English said. “I still have a brochure of whatever it was that I used to get a bunch of guys’ autographs. I met Payne Stewart. This to me is the first event I went to and was like: ‘This looks really good. I want to do this when I’m older.’”
English played a lot of sports as a kid and golf took hold of him. Tiger Woods was on the scene and the PGA Tour was starting to take off.
“I was in awe of the guys out here,” he said. “I was taking pictures of everybody, didn’t care who they were.”
This was 1998 — he was using a disposable camera.
“This was one of my first golf moments, coming to this tournament,” he said. “It means more to me being at East Lake, but also being our Tour Championship.”
Walker Cup
Niall Shiels Donegan, the Scottish lad raised in the San Francisco Bay area, had a big week at the U.S. Amateur by going from a 20-for-17 playoff all the way to the semifinals. He was rewarded with a spot on the Great Britain & Ireland team for the Walker Cup.
Miles Russell, the high school senior from Georgia, also had a big week by finishing third in the 36-hole qualifying and reaching the quarterfinals. His reward was a spot on the U.S. team as the first alternate, along with Max Herendeen.
Both sides announced their 10-member teams for Sept. 6-7 at Cypress Point, the first time the fabled course in California is hosting the amateur matches since 1981.
Five Americans previously qualified, including world No. 1 amateur Jackson Koivun, British Amateur champion Ethan Fang and NCAA champion Michael La Sasso. The five added from a selection committee were U.S. Amateur champion Mason Howell, Jacob Modleski, Tommy Morrison, Jase Summy and Stewart Hagestad from the mid-amateur category.
GB&I qualifying included the five highest-ranked players from the amateur ranking and five captain's picks. Donegan is joined by Luke Poulter, son of Ryder Cup stalwart Ian Poulter and No. 28 in the amateur ranking.
Tyler Weaver of England at No. 11 is the highest-ranked player for GB&I.
Connor Graham of Scotland is the only returning player from GB&I's team in 2023. Hagestad and world No. 2 Ben James return for the Americans.
Return of RBC
The day before the PGA Tour released its schedule came another key sponsorship renewal when RBC announced a multiyear extension of the Canada bank's title sponsorship of the RBC Heritage and the RBC Canadian Open.
RBC took over sponsorship of golf's fourth-oldest national championship in 2008 and brought stability to the Canadian Open, even with what can be an awkward spot on the schedule one week after the Memorial and a week before the U.S. Open.
It helped that Rory McIlroy played it this year as a two-time champion.
The RBC Heritage at Hilton Head is a week after the Masters. Harbour Town Golf Links is a favorite among players (except McIlroy) and has a reputation as the idyllic spot to play and decompress after the Masters. It now is a signature event with a $20 million purse.
RBC also has a team of ambassadors on the PGA and LPGA tours.
Divots
The TGL indoor league begins its second season on network TV with last year's finalists, defending champion Atlanta against New York on Sunday, Dec. 28 at 3 p.m. on ABC. Of course, that means it will air alongside NFL games in the penultimate week of the season. ... The PGA Tour Champions landed Skechers shoes as the title sponsor of the World Champions Cup, a match-play team event among players from the United States, Europe and an international squad. It will be held the first week in December in the Tampa Bay area. ... Scottie Scheffler has back-to-back seasons with five wins or more. Tiger Woods did that six times in his career.
Stat of the week
The average points gap in the world ranking between Scottie Scheffler at No. 1 and Rory McIlroy at No. 2 is equal to the gap between McIlroy and Taylor Moore at No. 115.
Final word
“Most of them think I am Joanne Carner." — Juli Inkster, on seeing players at the Portland Classic when the 65-year-old Hall of Famer played an LPGA event for the first time since 2022.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
