2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions: Top 10 Power Rankings at Kapalua
Xander Schauffele may be on a slight downward trend at this event, but his results in five appearances still impress.
The highlight was his 2019 win. He opened in 72 and appeared to be well out of the tournament, given four rounds in the 60s are usually required to win. Following in 67-68 was a nice way to work his way back into a nice projected payday, but he was still six shots back going to Sunday.
It didn’t matter. The X Man fired a then-course record 11-under 62 to storm back to win.
The San Diego State alum nearly repeated in 2020. Scores of 69-68-71 had him in the lead by one through 54 holes, but a closing 70 opened the door for Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed to catch Schauffele at the end of regulation. JT defeated both in a playoff.
Schauffele recorded three rounds in the 60s in 2021 but had to settle for T-5th and four shots off Harris English’s winning pace. Schauffele was quarantined with COVID right before leaving before the event, so that was an impressive result given those circumstances.
“I don’t know what it is, it just kind of fits my eye,” Schauffele said of Kapalua in 2020, as transcribed by ASAP Sports.
"“Usually it’s a little more windy, you got to sort of do all things in your game correctly and it’s just like, to me, it’s just a lot of fun to play, because you’re on these massive hills and a ton of wind and kind of weird breaking putts, so it’s just kind of fun.”"
In 2022, Schauffele dipped down to T-12th but still shot 22-under and had four sub-70 scores (69-67-68-66).
Last year, on the whole, the 29-year-old was solid throughout. He peaked in the summer when he won the Travelers Championship and Genesis Scottish Open back to back.
Those victories were part of a streak of seven top-20s.
Schauffele’s only official PGA Tour start in the 2022-23 season was T-9th at the ZOZO Championship. He also took solo fourth last month at the exhibition Hero World Challenge.
In 2021-22, he ranked eighth in total strokes gained per round (1.652). Schaueffele was ninth in birdie average (4.32)
One of his weaknesses was playing out of rough, which is not a huge factor this week.
He’s a good long-iron player who can feast on the par-5s this week. He ranked fourth in proximity from 200-225 yards (34’6”).