With the Wells Fargo Championship currently underway, Xander Schauffele sits atop the leaderboard after Thursday’s fierce battle at Quail Hollow Golf and Country Club. He shot six birdies and one eagle on hole 7 to settle his score at 7-under.
Later, Schauffele joined a post-round interview on Thursday, providing insights on his overall round and the impediments he faced on the course. He began narrating an overview of his experience and admitted that his round was mostly clean, despite the hurdles.
“Yeah, clean for most of the day…I got a little gritty there trying to swing hard. It’s kind of like the opposite of what I’ve been trying to do all week. And then just got really lucky multiple times.”
The seven-time PGA Tour winner elucidated a particular situation when he faced a bizarre position near a fence. To navigate through the difficulty imposed, Schauffele called PGA Tour officials for inspection.
“I’m going to hit in the trees. My ball was probably like a foot or two feet from the fence…I could probably hit like a four iron or something low and just try and run it through. And if it got stuck…I brought the rules official in there with me because I was like, I mean, you got to be okay with this because, like, this is literally the only shot I can hit.”
Finally, the golfer and his caddie, Austin, settled on a resolution that resulted in a stress-free shot on the greens. From rescuing his ball from a hazard to landing at 7 under post-match, the round was no less than a rollercoaster. Later, in the same interview, the Ryder Cup patriot also elucidated the strategy alterations he made for the tricky course.
Xander Schauffele applies gameplay tweaks at a windy Wells Fargo Championship
The American reflected upon the strategic tweaks he made for the opening round. Schaufelle elaborated how compromising a few yards resulted in low scores, and that it was fun to sort of try and hit far. He also acknowledged that for courses like these hitting far was only helpful as long as the shot was straight.
He described how he controlled the swing speed, which gave him an upper hand in the game. By employing this trick, his ball landed on the fairway and evaded the wind. “Was 7 the tee shot dialed back, or was that full bore? I was just trying to hit it in fairway. I mean, it was helping wind.”
On an ending note, the veteran golfer acknowledged the course challenges and how that prepared him for the upcoming major With Sunday’s curtain call, the Wells Fargo Championship will have another winner before the players advance to the PGA Championship face-off, taking place at the Valhalla course next week.
