PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. \u2014 Here\u2019s something you rarely see in today\u2019s game of pros bombing long tee shots and hitting short irons to greens:<\/p>\n
A player who hits every fairway.<\/p>\n
Xander Schauffele did that during the second round of the Players Championship on Friday at TPC Sawgrass, and not surprisingly, his name is atop the leaderboard.<\/p>\n
That 14-for-14 line on the stat sheet looks pretty good, even more so when it is followed by 16 of 18 greens in regulation. Schauffele didn\u2019t do much wrong in a round of 65 that saw him get to the halfway point of the PGA Tour\u2019s flagship event at 134, 10 under par. (He had one three-putt green.)<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, wasn’t aware of all the fairways hit,\u201d Schauffele said afterward. \u201cDefinitely nice to hit all of them, especially on this property. Definitely for the most part I felt like I was in control and felt like I was attacking the golf course versus playing defensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result was a huge difference at this place a year ago, when Schauffele was in the midst of returning from an intercostal injury that saw him miss six weeks from early January until March.<\/p>\n
His return a year ago was at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where the man who won two major championships in 2024 could be excused for a middling finish of tie for 40th\u00a0that includes an opening-round 70.<\/p>\n
But it was at TPC Sawgrass where Schauffele found his low point, including a 77\u201381 weekend that saw him finish last\u201472nd\u2014among players who missed the cut.<\/p>\n
For most of the year, Schauffele found himself struggling to catch up after missing the time early. He could never quite find the formula that saw him win the PGA Championship at Valhalla and the British Open at Royal Troon.<\/p>\n
And he finally ran out of time, failing to qualify for the 30-player Tour Championship for the first time in his eight-year career.<\/p>\n
Schauffele, whose wife had a baby in late August, played well at the Ryder Cup, going 3\u20131 in the U.S. defeat at Bethpage. And he then captured his 10th\u00a0PGA Tour title late in the year at the Baycurrent Championship in Japan.<\/p>\n
But he saw his Tour-leading 72-event cut streak end in January at the Farmers Insurance Open and has managed just a single top-10 finish since, a tie for seventh at the Genesis Invitational.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely hitting a lot of really good golf shots,\u201d Schauffele said. \u201cI think even earlier in this year I started hitting a lot of good golf shots again. 2024 was a year full of really good results, and right now I think we\u2019re a little bit more focused on the process bit of it and trying to make sure things are sort of ironed out and in a decent spot, and then after that you go and compete.<\/p>\n
\u201cMentally it\u2019s definitely nice to have some results, but I enjoy working. It\u2019s a lot of fun to try and get yourself back into a good spot, and obviously if you can reap the rewards quickly, that\u2019s even better. But I know it\u2019s a long deal here.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is. The conditions were relatively pleasant on Friday and Schauffele took advantage to lead Cameron Young (68) by one and Corey Conners by two.<\/p>\n
He also finished 11 strokes better than defending champion Rory McIlroy, who a year ago won in a playoff over J.J. Spaun at the same time while Schauffele was returning from injury.<\/p>\n