Rex Hoggard shocked by what happened to Xander Schauffele on day three at The Players Championship
Xander Schauffele is the only player in the top 15 heading into the final round of The Players Championship to post an over par score on Saturday at TPC Sawgrass.
Schauffele began the third round in second place at the PGA Tour’s flagship event. He had managed to hit all 14 fairways at TPC Sawgrass on Friday to put himself in the final group alongside Ludvig Aberg.
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However, his hopes of winning The Players for the first time in his career appear to have been all but dashed.
Xander Schauffele springs a surprise during the third round of The Players
Schauffele made three bogeys and just one birdie on his way to carding a 74 on moving day. That has left him five shots behind Aberg heading into Sunday.
The two-time major champion lost more than 2.5 shots to the field with his score. And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast after the third round had concluded, Rex Hoggard explained why he was so taken aback by Schauffele’s performance.
Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
“Recent history suggests [Aberg’s] not going to fall off his game that much that I feel like he’s going to have a Xander Schauffele day. Xander’s day today really surprised me,” he said.
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“You don’t have to be off much on this golf course, we saw that out of Xander Schauffele. I was stunned that Xander struggled a little bit, simply because of how well he drove the ball yesterday. 14 from 14 in fairways hit yesterday. And today, it didn’t seem like he could do anything well.
“You’re right, [Aberg] could certainly stumble and stumble early, which is what we kind of saw on Saturday, but I just have so much confidence, simply because when the swing is grooved, when that particular swing is grooved, I just can’t figure out a way how it gets off.”
Schauffele’s hopes of still winning assessed after his disappointing third round at TPC Sawgrass
The encouraging news for Schauffele is that recent history suggests a five-shot comeback on Sunday at The Players Championship is not out of the question.
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Scottie Scheffler managed to win in 2024 having begun the last round five shots behind the overnight leader – Xander Schauffele.
Nevertheless, Hoggard admitted that he does not expect Schauffele to make enough of a charge to secure his first win of the season.
“I would be a little surprised about Xander [if he won]. I just think the expectations I had for him going into this round were I know he’s not going to magically turn into 2024 Xander Schauffele, I know that’s not going to happen. That’s going to take some time. He and Chris Como are still working through some swing changes,” he said.
“The expectations were high after yesterday, and it was a little bit of a disappointment. But I will point to the fact that he kept grinding. The 74 was probably the best possible score he could have shot from some of the places he ended up with. I could see him making an early run.”
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All of the chasing pack are going to require a favour from Aberg on Sunday. The Swede is three shots clear on a course that he knows so well.
Aberg bases himself at TPC Sawgrass. And that became abundantly clear on Friday with his 63 allowing him to take charge of the tournament.
Schauffele posted two rounds of 65 during that 2024 event where he finished up in a tie for second. He is probably going to need another of those displays to stand any chance on Sunday.
