Xander Schauffele was brutally honest where he ‘sucked’ in 2024

The New Year is a time for reflection. Especially for professional golfers, who start 2025 at this week’s Sentry season opener at Kapalua in Maui.

In fact, Xander Schauffele, the top man in the field, reflected on his 2024 stats when he met with the media on Tuesday.

“My wedge game is not good,” he said. “It was really bad. Really, really bad. Golf is tough.”

Those were Schauffele’s words – not ours – but we’ll add context. Schauffele ranked sixth in SG: Approach the Green (.678) last season, but the deep depth underscores his point. From 200 yards he finished 5th in SG: The Way, but as he got closer to the hole his quality started to slip in a different direction. He ranked between 45th and 70th in three categories from 125 to 200 yards, but from 50 to 125 yards — the prime spot for the wedge — he was 171st, with an average of 21 feet, inches -5 from the hole.

Specifically, he was 168th from 100-125 yards, 100th from 75-100 yards and 155th from 50-75 yards.

“The fact that my club is a little bit off in my backswing doesn’t match the swing — it’s good for the driver, it’s good for the long irons, the stats show that — well, with the wedges, you know, the club is a little slow, it’s not good for hitting as a distance,” he said. “It’s something I’m trying to fix, I’m still working on it now, I’m still trying to figure it out, I feel good about it.

“When my shoulders were soft, the club was closed, and I was very flexible,” he continued. “I was a really good wedge player, really good inside 150. And then the club swings a different way, a lot higher on the other side, and now all of a sudden I can, you know, smoke my driver and 4- iron, but all of a sudden, like a 90-yard wedge is short, sometimes. So I’m just trying to understand that. “

To be fair, Schauffele is OK with the tradeoff. He ranked 10th in SG: Off the Tee and second in SG: Value (not to mention 12th in SG: Putting). That formula helped him reach the top 10 and his two major titles.

“It seemed to work well for me last year, so I’m working on it,” said Schauffele. “If I can find something in the middle I will, but maybe I need to practice my wedges more.”

As the No. 2 player in the world, he trails only Scottie Scheffler, who had to withdraw from this week’s tournament due to injury. Scheffler’s ability to hit the ball is well documented. Last season he ranked 1st in SG: Total, 2nd off the tee and 1st in approach (and ranked 77th).

From 50 to 125 yards — where Schauffele is ranked 171st — Scheffler was No. 1, with an average of 13 feet, 9 inches, more than seven feet better than Schauffele.

“That would be one place [to inch closer to Scheffler],” said Schauffele. “By the sea, short game, that’s not a bad place, I’m not doing anything special, it’s good enough. These are some areas where I can improve, for sure. “

As for catching Scheffler, that won’t be easy. The gap between Scheffler and Schauffele in the World Ranking is almost the same as the gap between Schauffele and No. 22 Aaron Rai.

“We all compete well. We all want to beat each other up. “He’s just a good guy, and I can’t say anything bad about him, honestly, especially after what happened to him last year,” Schauffele said. “I think that the true colors are seen when you are faced with a bad color, like when he was arrested. So he’s a 10 out of 10 guy in my opinion, so I have to try to hate him somehow. So if I put him on the top of the mountain, and he’s the person I have to catch, maybe I should put it like that in my head.”