Xander Schauffele produced another fine display at The Masters, finishing his week at Augusta National on eight-under.
The top-class performance comes amid a disrupted season for the American, who had been hampered by a rib injury.
But Schauffele has fortunately been able to complete four rounds at The Masters, where he carded scores of 70, 72, 70 and 68.
It was his ninth start at Augusta National and his eighth start of the 2026 season, with Schauffele still seeking his first win.
But he is excited for the near future after his showing at The Masters, which the two-time major champion discussed after his final round on Sunday.
Delighted Xander Schauffele hasn’t thought about injury for months
When asked if he is back to normality, Schauffele said: “Yeah, I think the way I felt this week, I feel like I played better than what I shot.
“Sometimes that’s how golf goes. You need a few things to go your way, a few lip-out putts to lip in.
“But for the most part I felt like I controlled my ball and wasn’t in too many weird spots. Just struggled on the greens a little bit overall.
“I’ve got something good coming around the corner here. I’m playing pretty nice.”
And discussing his recovery from injury, he said: “Yeah, I think in terms of coming back, I definitely feel a lot better.
“I don’t think about injury at all for a good three or four months, which is really nice.
“I think when you get hurt, just from what I learned, you think about it a little bit too much, especially when things aren’t going great.
“It’s nice to be able to focus on playing well and focus on working on my game and getting stronger and things of that nature.”
Xander Schauffele empathizes with Collin Morikawa at The Masters
Schauffele certainly wasn’t the only player who entered Augusta with recent injury issues, with Rory McIlroy having been dealing with a back injury.
Collin Morikawa has also been severely impacted by a back injury, which most recently forced him to withdraw from The Players Championship after one hole.
Sharing his verdict on his fellow American, Schauffele said of Morikawa: “Yeah, sort of non-contact, just making a swing, that’s as scary as it gets because we swing for a living, and we need to swing and make a lot of swings.
“I definitely feel for him because that’s a tricky spot to be in. I just saw him at 9-under, so clearly he’s found something.”
And sharing what is next for himself and looking towards the next major, Schauffele commented: “Yeah, definitely just use this. This is a really tough property. The course is really tricky.
“If you’re playing good golf around here or at least top-tenning around here, you know you’re playing pretty good golf. It doesn’t mean you can’t go play better somewhere else.”
Like Schauffele, Morikawa certainly didn’t let his injury get the better of him at Augusta, where he finished on nine-under.
And at the time of the completion of their final rounds, it was McIlroy who led the way as he sought to defend his title, with Schauffele and Morikawa both within the top 10.
All three players deserve huge credit for not only making the cut this week amid their issues, but also producing top, top displays.
Read more:
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Jordan Spieth says one area of his game was possibly the worst it’s ever been at The Masters
Max Homa states what’s the ‘biggest regret’ of his entire career after shooting 67 on Masters Sunday
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