Xander Schauffele

Residence: Jupiter, Florida
Age: 29
World Ranking: 6
Ryder Cup ranking: 6
Ryder Cup appearances: 1 (2021)
U.S. Ryder Cup record: 3-0-1 (1-0 in four-ball, 2-0 in foursomes, 0-1 in singles)

Xander Schauffele has been on both ends of the call.

Throughout his career, there have been instances where was hoping to be one of six captain’s picks for either a U.S. Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup team. He’s been told yes — and no.

“You don't really want to sit around and wait for the phone call,” he said.

This year, however, he won’t have to, because he was the final automatic qualifier for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, securing a spot inside the top six automatic qualifying threshold by just 29 points.

Yet, when the 29-year-old found out he wouldn’t have to rely on a captain’s pick this year, he still wasn’t in the best mood.

“I just bogeyed my last hole (of the BMW Championship) from like 150 yards with a pitching wedge,” Schauffele said Tuesday at the Tour Championship. “And the pin at was in a bowl. Like, I was, I wasn't super excited, to be completely honest.”

But as time passed, he cooled down and realized the magnitude of his achievement.

“Then as I thought about it, I started to feel better he said. "But right when it happened they told me and I was kind of just like, ‘Sick,’ you know what I mean? Like, ‘That's great.’ But once I was able to talk about it and think beyond my bogey that I just made and get over myself, I was happy.”

OLYMPIA FIELDS, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 20: Xander Schauffele of the United States follows his shot on the fourth hole during the final round of the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club on August 20, 2023 in Olympia Fields, Illinois. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

En route to punching his ticket to Rome, the former San Diego State Aztec played some of the most consistent golf of his career. He didn’t miss a cut in 21 starts and he set a career-high in top-10s with 10, tied for the fifth-most on Tour. But he didn’t find his way into the winner’s circle a year after he won three times.

So how would Schauffele characterize his season?

“It's been a pretty weird year, to be completely honest,” he said.

Things got off to a rocky start. In the first event of 2023, Schauffele withdrew from the Sentry Tournament of Champions with a back injury. Having never been seriously injured in his career, Schauffele was in unchartered waters.

“A bit of a scare for myself and my team, to be completely honest,” he said, “Just because it was something new that we've never had to deal with.”

He managed to return two weeks later at The American Express with his back still sore. However, he placed T-3, carding an albatross in the final round from 226 yards. Afterward, he said his ailing back improved after each round.

From then on, it was business as usual, playing alongside the world’s best players on a regular basis.

OLYMPIA FIELDS, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 20: Xander Schauffele of the United States reacts after making birdie on the first green during the final round of the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club on August 20, 2023 in Olympia Fields, Illinois. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

Despite not being able to notch a victory this year, Schauffele continued to establish himself as one of the top players in the world, raking sixth on Tour this season in Strokes Gained: Approach, fourth in SG: Putting, sixth in SG: Total and fifth in scoring average (69.225). But the the injury scare was a major obstacle that the 2020 Olympic gold medalist had to overcome.

“With all things considered there I feel like I'm pretty far behind personally,” he said. “But they (his team) have been present and helpful in reminding me that not too long ago I was pretty down on sort of what it was going to look like for this year. So we kind of had to dig deep and pull ourselves out of that hole kind of early and kind of catch or get into good form to just even make this Ryder Cup team.”

And he was able to do it without having to anxiously wait for a phone call from Johnson.

Now, he hopes his uncanny year can still end with a victory — in Rome.

Johnson, meanwhile, is thrilled to have Schauffele on his squad.

"Xander is such an incredible talent. It's been fun to see how well he and Patrick have performed in Match Play and the energy they bring on the golf course. I know Xander will be ready to help our team keep the Ryder Cup in Rome."

What Schauffele Brings to the Team

Few people have represented their country better than Schauffele. He won the gold medal for the U.S. at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago. Then, a few months later, he went 3-1-0 as a rookie in the U.S. Team’s historic 19-9 Ryder Cup win at Whistling Straits. For an encore, he went 3-1-0 at Quail Hollow in last year’s Presidents Cup.

That can be attributed to Schauffele’s well-rounded game. His lowest strokes gained rank on Tour this season is around the green, which he’s T-85. He’s 49th off the tee and inside the top 20 in every other strokes gained category. He also hits 68.19% of greens in regulation, which is 30th on Tour. That is going to be paramount at Marco Simone if the U.S. Team hopes to end its 30-year winless drought on foreign soil.

Potential Partnerships

Johnson won’t have to think long and hard about this question, because it’s Patrick Cantlay. In a Ryder Cup and two Presidents Cups, they have always played together, compiling a 6-3-0 record, while being 5-0-0 in foursomes matches as a tandem.

Their chemistry stretches outside of Ryder and Presidents Cups, too. They won the 2022 Zurich Classic — the Tour's lone team event — setting the tournament scoring record in the process. Then, they finished T-4 this year, shooting a tournament-best foursomes round of 9-under 63 on Day 3.

“We're very motivated,” Schauffele said of Cantlay at the 2022 Presidents Cup. “We enjoy playing together. We've done well in the format, and we attribute it to our friendship and playing a lot and competing a lot against each other on normal weeks. There's sort of a level of comfort that we have when we compete together.”

Career Ryder Cup Highlight

After discovering their chemistry together at the 2019 Presidents Cup, Schauffele and Cantlay were teamed up for Saturday morning’s foursomes at Whistling Straits, defeating European stalwart Lee Westwood and budding superstar Matt Fitzpatrick, 2 and 1.

There have been many iconic duos in Ryder Cup history, but at that moment, the golf world realized another one was brewing.

“They just enjoy being around each other, and that’s half the battle when you try to pair guys up,” 2021 U.S. Captain Steve Stricker said of the Cantlay-Schauffele tandem. “Each of their games complements the other one. That’s another thing when you put guys together, especially in foursomes, that you want their games to complement each other. Theirs do.”