On the path to greatness

Xander Schauffele has a game tailor-made to win at Augusta – and is ready to give up golf’s title of ‘the best player without a Major’

- ALEX NARE

Aander Schauffele looks like one of those golfers who never gets flustered. His game is almost businessman-like, going about each and every shot with the same methodical efficiency, whether he’s attacking a par 5 over water or floating in a wedge from 120 yards. Box-office wise, he is a player who always seems to go slightly under the radar, happy to stay in his own lane as he plots an unassuming path in the game.

It’s a make-up that undoubtedly works for him, and which suggests he thrives at being the underdog; despite having the necessary power to match the best from the tee, he doesn’t possess the wow factor of some of his contemporaries like Bryson, Brooks and DJ, and neither does he carry the same levels of machismo or demand the column inches as we obsess over the game’s biggest stars. But when it comes to the Majors, there is always a spark – and none more so than on the hallowed fairways of Augusta National where he has quickly forged a reputation as a course specialist with two top-ten finishes already from his four outings in Georgia.

“I guess my game is built on being repetitive,” Schauffele says. “I am not the top dog, but I am in the chasing pack and to do that you have to perform in the big moments and not let things get away from you. It is all about dealing with the pressure – and that follows you everywhere in the Majors. I remain patient because that is what my game is built on.”

Biding his time