Xander Schauffele won two majors in 2024, taking the PGA Championship and the Open Championship to transform his career from that of a great majorless player to the rare winner of multiple majors in a single year.
Now, he has his sights set on the Masters this week at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.
However, Schauffele believes the secret to winning the green jacket is, in fact, to spend less time at the venerable club. Sure, he wants to prepare wholly and fully for the week ahead -- though Monday's weather conditions made on-course preparation more limited. But, he doesn't want to find himself exerting too much energy at the club's incredible tournament practice facility.
"My big goal when I come here is to feel prepared enough to not want to sit on property and practice all day because like a kid in the candy store, it doesn't get a whole lot better than this when you're trying to prepare," Schauffele said Monday.
"You feel like you lose yourself. You can sit on the range for six hours sitting at different targets, go chip, go putt. Before you know it, you're absolutely exhausted. I did that my first couple years without even realizing it. That's more of my goal when I come here."
A major championship is a grind of a week, especially winning one. The energy expended to prepare and then work through every single shot -- particularly with the greatest of pressure applied -- is exhausting. Schauffele knows that keeping as much mental and physical energy in the tank as possible will be better for those key moments.
That's particularly true considering Schauffele is just starting to feel more like himself. He had been dealing with a rib injury that kept him out of action for two months. Then he found some success at the Valspar Championship.
"I've never really dealt with injury before, so I've never really been sidelined," he said. "I'm trying to find all the positives to attach to the situation, and me not being hurt before and sitting at home thinking all these thoughts, watching everyone else play golf and sort of fly by me, it's been very motivating. Just trying to use that to perform at a higher level."
Having won the Wanamaker trophy and the claret jug last year, Schauffele now knows that a big breakthrough for a top-tier player like himself is never as distant as it might seem at a low point.
Schauffele said, "[Y]ou're always a lot closer than you think is what I tell anyone that's been close. It's hard to wrap your head around. It's never anything that's that fancy, and you're always a lot closer than you think you are."
