Xander Schauffele surprised himself with where game is after time off before Ryder Cup

Xander Schauffele, on paper at least, is a bit of an unknown.He qualified for the Ryder Cup based on points, but last year carried his total.A rib injury forced him to miss two months this year.

Then, he didn’t qualify for the Tour Championship for the first time.And entering the weekend at Bethpage, he hasn’t golfed in a tournament since the middle of August — taking time off as his wife, Maya, gave birth to their first child and not attending Team USA’s tuneup in Napa two weeks ago that everyone else except for Bryson DeChambeau (LIV Golf ban) participated in.But amid a challenging year of golf, Schauffele, actually, has shocked himself with how well he has played while ramping back up — which would provide a boost to Team USA.“I feel like after these two days, surprisingly playing kind of nice,” Schauffele said Tuesday.

“I know, I surprised myself when I came out.”Keegan Bradley and his assistant captains checked in on Schauffele during his break as he supported his wife and their son, Victor.He took three weeks off after the BMW Championship and started getting into a rhythm around two weeks before arriving at Bethpage for his third Ryder Cup.“I miss him a bunch,” Schauffele said of Victor.

“I had to sort of rip the Band-Aid when I was leaving the house, just kiss him on the forehead and walk out before I started staring at him.”Schauffele tasted a Ryder Cup win as a rookie at Whistling Straits in 2021.And this time, given his struggles on the course, another Team USA victory would help Schauffele “forget a lot about what happened in 2025,” he said.Harris English, Russell Henley, Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler formed one Tuesday practice group for Team USA.

DeChambeau, Ben Griffin, Justin Thomas and Cameron Young paired together in another.Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay, J.J.

Spaun and Schauffele were the third group.For Team Europe, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose were the first group.Rasmus Hojg...