Xander Schauffele, World Number 3, returns to competition today at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, after overcoming an intercostal strain with a small cartilage tear. These are annoying and tricky injuries (he suffered it on his right side, and on one of the lower ribs, to be more precise), but apparently, the Californian is ready for the comeback. This has been confirmed by “many scans, ultrasound tests, CT scans… Everything has come out well,” the player himself stated yesterday after completing the 18 holes at Bay Hill during the Pro-Am day.
A lot has happened since the last time Schauffele, a two-time Major winner in 2024, competed in a tournament with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, World Numbers 1 and 2. Finally, they are going to do it. It last happened at the Tour Championship in Atlanta during the FedEx Cup final back in August. After that, it was impossible, between the deep cut on Scheffler’s hand during the Christmas holidays and then Xander’s injury.
An injury, by the way, that gradually showed up from the second half of December. “Yes, no alarm bells really rang. I mean, surely there were some alarms that I ignored, but there wasn’t a specific ‘oh, wow, my rib hurts’ moment during a gym session or practising the swing. It was a kind of perfect storm: my coach had to go back to renew his visa, I was left alone and, apparently, I’m still like a little kid. I kept training and playing golf and training and playing golf, and I’m used to someone stopping me. I didn’t get any help and I think that’s what put me against the wall,” the player explains.
In fact, he already played the Sentry with discomfort. He tried to return at the Farmers, but literally couldn’t after testing himself. And now he doesn’t arrive at this Signature Event at Bay Hill in the best conditions, or with the proper preparation. He has been practically inactive for six weeks and, as he explained, he barely played nine holes in San Diego, hitting only with irons, another nine holes on a par-3 course in Jupiter, alongside Justin Thomas, 18 more holes in Jupiter before travelling to Orlando this week, nine more holes at Bay Hill on Tuesday and the 18 he played yesterday in the Pro-Am. It doesn’t seem like much fieldwork, to be honest, although there have been good practice sessions.
This very week, at Bay Hill, when he went out to play on Tuesday, he put some balls in the rough and told his caddie that if he couldn’t hit without feeling discomfort, he would take the car and go back home to Jupiter. The test went well, fortunately, although it’s difficult to place this player right now among the big favourites. He also seems very clear: if the pain reappears, he won’t push himself too much this week, thinking about the Masters and the PGA, the first two Majors of the season.
It may be that Schauffele himself is playing it down, aiming to lower expectations, but it doesn’t feel that way. It’s important to remember that these types of injuries, so debilitating for a full and free golf swing, really leave a mark on the memory and it’s not easy to erase it. One tends to protect oneself unconsciously, and the swing doesn’t quite feel the same.
Schauffele goes out to play today alongside Justin Thomas in the last group of matches, in the afternoon, although in the Arnold Palmer Invitational you can’t really talk about playing shifts as such, since everyone goes out to play from the 1st tee, like in the Open, in the old-fashioned way, with starts every ten (or fifteen) minutes and for six hours, from 7:40 in the morning until 13:50 in the afternoon, local time. The Californian goes out to play at 19:10 (Spanish peninsular time), just behind the match pairing McIlroy and Lowry, the two Irishmen, and when Scheffler and Aberg, who are together, have already been on the course for about three and a half hours. Surely some of these names will be in the fight for victory on Sunday. We’ll see if Schauffele can come and conquer.
