Fighting his swing and seeing world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler pulling away from the field, Xander Schauffele turned to the scoreboards around the Royal Portrush Golf Club seeking extra motivation at The Open Championship on Saturday.
“I don’t react (to leaderboards), but today I was,” Schauffele said after completing his third round. “I just felt like there’s no point in not. I need to find any bit of — not that I’m not motivated, but any extra motivation I can to giddy up and try to get something done. There’s a few guys that are playing some incredible golf.”
The defending Open champion entered this week winless during a year that began with an injury and has yet to catch any real steam. That included the first two rounds at Royal Portrush, where Schauffele opened with a 71 and then battled his way through a 2-under 69 on Friday — a round he held together despite feeling like he had no control over his golf ball.
With the sun out and the wind calmer on Saturday, Schauffele carded a pair of eagles en route to tying for the second lowest round of the day with a 66 that included only one bogey.
“Yeah, today was nice. Had a nice phone call with (swing coach) Chris (Como) last night,” Schauffele said. “Yesterday felt terrible. Even with some of the shots coming in, I felt like I was luck boxing my way through the back nine, somehow making contact and then sitting it somewhere near the hole and getting it in.
“Today felt like I was in more control. Obviously the weather was much nicer and sort of what we’re used to on the PGA Tour. But it felt like I could control my golf ball a lot more.”
By the time the final putt of the day at Royal Portrush was rolled in several groups later, Schauffele found himself alone in eighth place at seven under. But while charging into the top-10 required one of his better rounds of year, Schauffele looks at a scoreboard that now shows him seven shots behind Scheffler entering the final round.
Asked if he played his way back into contention on Saturday, Schauffele said “not really.”
“I missed two short birdie putts, which I’m looking at. If I’m nitpicking my whole deal, I needed three more today to feel like I’m somewhere close enough to whatever Scott or (Matt) Fitzpatrick or Haotong (Li) are going to post.
Li sits four shots behind Scheffler’s lead at 14 under as he prepares to become the first Chinese man to play in the final group of the final round of a major. Fitzpatrick is alone in third at 9 under, a stroke ahead of home country hero Rory McIlroy, Chris Gotterup, Harris English and Tyrrell Hatton.
Next is Schauffele, who is focused more on finishing the final major of the year on a positive note than he is of harboring realistic expectations of a magical repeat as the Open champion.
“I’m so far back, who knows with the weather and whatnot. I believe in myself and what I can do. So just blackout hopefully,” he said. “No luck boxing, blackout, there’s your headline, and try to shoot something and give myself a lot of opportunities.”
–Field Level Media
