Xander Schauffele brings the “fryer” to his face. Then came out

If you haven’t heard of it, then cuts are suddenly a storm of golf.

The PGA Tour voted for a new signature event series aimed at reducing field size for a year, and in some cases – the 36-hole cutting line for golf was eliminated, and the new year resumed cuts in the new year. The Golf Channel’s Friday afternoon telecast is now based primarily on staying on the weekends, while players and sponsors have expressed support for competitive juices by cutting the field in half.

No player embodies the tailoring argument better than Xander Schauffele. In fact, Friday marks exactly three years since Schauffele missed the layoffs last time. 57 events followed, including a pair of major championship wins, and Schauffele scored into the weekend on all “Em”.

Dear readers, that’s why what happened on the 13th T-shirt box on Friday afternoon in Bay Hill.

It was an impressive day for Schauffele until about 30 minutes. After more than five starts with 77 hopes, after his weekend high hopes, Xander powered his own path on the opening 10 holes of Bay Hill, recording three birdies instead of a bogey. As the conditions were hot and shot around him, Schauffele returned to the right side of the tangent as usual. But then a disaster occurred.

“I was sitting in a friendly place, as comfortable as I could have been in Bay Hill,” Schauffele said with a smile on Friday afternoon. “Then the skillet was absolutely hit at 11 o’clock.”

A skillet to the skull, or more accurately, a pair of double cypresses. The first to reach the 11th hole, which was due to a shot into the water, and then scored another double on the 12th, thanks to a brief table tennis match. Now, on the 13th, Schauffele made two shots on the expected tangent line, and the golf course is still hitting four toughest holes.

“A little bit screwed up something very simple,” Schuffle said afterward. “I mean, a really bad swing, and some serious executions around the green on the 5-shot green. So it was a very nervous, a great day for me.”

For many players, a four-swing swing can be a knockout blow. But not for Schauffele. He shot the tee to eight feet on the 13th and then poured it on the putt for the birdie, then drained the 30 feet of birdie on the 14th and 16th holes. Almost as fast as he gave four shots, he would Shooting The other three, go to three, and take a shot within the projected tangent. The bogey on the 18th wasn’t enough to remove the crazy final dash: he did it again, expanding his winning streak to 58.

Schauffele’s performance is impressive considering the background. The 31-year-old not only played great golf in the tour’s toughest closing ceremony, but also started for the second time in 2025, he was missing for most of the past two months due to intercostal strains. The comeback on Friday afternoon itself was impressive, but it was shocking considering other factors.

“Even today, doubles are sitting in a very good place, and it’s an easy time to get frustrating. But I said earlier this week that I’m going to have to go to a special place that plays decent golf and I have to dig deeper,” Schauffele said. “So it’s a good practice. There’s no doubt that Austin and I are proud of our tough streak. Is this our idea? No. But usually when you focus on winning, you make a lot of cuts and end up in between.”

local history. The honor belongs to Tiger Woods, who has 142 consecutive layoffs. Other impressive historical streaks? Byron Nelson is 113, Jack Nicklaus, 105, and Hale Irwin is 86.

Even with the current winning streak, Schauffele is still at least a few years from the year to Irwin, from Nicklaus, Nelson or Woods. It’s far away, much further than the sinister disaster at Arnold Palmer on Friday afternoon. But, without a lot of good golf, you can’t get there, there are many more timely Good golf. Xander Schauffele has had a lot in the past three years.

“I know it will be tough, and I’m glad I’m proud to get through the weekend,” Schauffele said. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I’m really glad I can get two more rounds of golf on a very tough property and try to prepare for the tough game for the rest of the year.”

It’s great for the third-place player in the world to spend the weekend ridiculous, but it’s certainly ridiculous to say that on Friday afternoon in Bay Hill.

In golf, half of the challenges in life just emerge.

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