Hace un año, Max Greyserman (-12) was left with a bitter taste in his mouth at the Zozo Championship. He couldn’t achieve what would have been his first victory on the PGA Tour by just one stroke, against Nico Echeverría. The American arrived ready to make amends in an edition of the tournament that not only changed its name, becoming known as the Baycurrent Classic, but also its venue. And after two rounds of very high level, opening up a significant lead in the standings, this Saturday things got much more complicated than he imagined…
After delivering scorecards of 67 and 63 strokes in the first two days of competition, today he has significantly reduced his birdie production, with only three, and has not managed to avoid mistakes, especially a double bogey on the par-three 7th hole, where he missed the green, came up very short on recovery, and needed three putts to hole out, missing one from just over half a metre. It became an uphill day for him, with playing conditions not as favourable as in the first 36 holes, with lower temperatures, rain, and wind.
“I finished tired, very tired. I fought as hard as I could out there. I didn’t play very well, although I was okay. I made a couple of mistakes that I don’t usually make. The course was very long, really long, because of the rain. The ball wasn’t flying much. Honestly, I’m just glad to have finished those 18 holes the way I was hitting at times,” he said just after finishing this challenging Saturday at the Yokohama Country Club. “Thinking about last year? Not during the round. I’ve thought about it this week, but it wasn’t on my mind until you reminded me,” he added.
No bunker trouble here 👏
Xander Schauffele co-leads at the turn @Baycurrent_Clsc.
📺 Golf Channel pic.twitter.com/ns4mcSnTFX
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 11, 2025
Greyserman opened the door, and unfortunately for him, the one who ended up sneaking all the way in was not just any opponent, far from it. Xander Schauffele (-12), number 4 in the world golf ranking and one of the big favourites for victory before the tournament started, delivered the fifth-best scorecard of the day to become co-leader. With 67 strokes on this ‘moving day’, the Californian, with a German father and Taiwanese mother, managed to offset his only two mistakes, on holes 11 and 14, with a total of six birdies that allow him to dream of victory.
For the San Diego native, winner of two majors, it would be the tenth of his career on the PGA Tour. And it would come in a very special place for him… In Japan, four years ago, he won the gold medal at the Olympic Games, one of the most special victories of his sporting career. And this week he received an important visit… “Winning here would be something very special. My grandparents are here, my mother grew up here with her brother. Thinking about that excites me. It would be an incredible feeling,” he confessed today after his round.
It hasn’t been an especially good year for Xander. “It’s the first time all year that I’ve come to Sunday with a chance to win,” he recalled. So, in his first tournament after the Ryder, the Californian wants to lift a trophy again less than 100 kilometres from the Kasumigaseki Country Club where he made history at the Olympic event, once again honouring his Asian roots and in the presence of his grandparents: “My grandfather is 91 years old and my grandmother 81. I gave them a big hug on Friday. They are very active for their age, my grandfather walked the 18 holes without a problem.”
Schauffele and Greyserman will therefore share the star match on Sunday. However, they must not be complacent if they want the fight for victory to be just between the two of them. Three strokes behind is a long list of rivals with interesting names such as Michael Thorbjornsen (-9), a young talent with high expectations, Byeong Hun An (-9), an experienced player with over 200 tournaments on the PGA Tour still without wins, Garrick Higgo (-9), who came close to victory last Sunday at the Sanderson, Si Woo Kim (-9), four-time winner on the tour… and the defending champion, Nico Echavarría (-9).
Min Woo Lee (-8) and Sahith Theegala (-8) share eighth place, while players like Alex Noren (-6) have struggled this Saturday, losing some ground in their fight to earn points that bring them closer to that top 100 that will retain the tour playing rights in 2026 once the autumn calendar concludes, with only four more events remaining, two in the United States, one in Mexico, and another in Bermuda, before the season finally draws to a close.
