NOTEBOOK: Schauffele Hopes Positivity Amplifies Previous Open Success

OAKMONT, Pa. — Xander Schauffele diagnosed himself as “sick” Monday afternoon due to his love for U.S. Open golf courses, but there’s legitimate reason to feel good about never finishing outside of the top 15 in each of his eight starts in his event

The world’s third-ranked golfer has made the cut in each of his nine starts on the PGA Tour this year, adjusting to suffering from an intercostal strain and cartilage tear in his ribcage, which caused him to be on the shelf for the first time.

Despite not being able to get back to the form he displayed prior to the injury, his game is trending in the right direction, and he is a popular winner’s pick at Oakmont Country Club.

“I think a good attitude goes a long way,” he explained. “It’s obviously easier said than done, hard to keep a good attitude through the entire stretch of 72 holes, nonetheless practice rounds as well. For me at least, good attitude is being level-headed.

“I think I look pretty level-headed when I play, but internally I might be absolutely just thrashing myself. I think truly having a good attitude is just sort of accepting what happened and allowing yourself to be pretty much at zero to hit the next shot.”

That attitude has been put to the test throughout this season as he had to learn once again what it took to trust in his game and having the proper mentality.

It was also an adjustment acknowledging expectations of what he knew he could do to where he actually was, something he deemed “a wake-up call”.

THOMAS HOPES TO DISPLAY MORE GROWTH

When Thomas was last in front of reporters at the Memorial Tournament, he talked about how he had to better prepare for major championships and elevated events.

Ultimately Thomas played his best at Muirfield Village Golf Club when he played his aggressive style and had nothing to lose.

What might that look like for Thomas this week?

“I think for me just being very committed to what I’m doing, being kind of accepting of the results and being just very, very committed for me,” he answered. “I think once I start second-guessing myself or not trusting my instincts is kind of where I get myself in trouble. Then when I do that, I naturally am pretty pissed off if it doesn’t work out. It wasn’t because of the shot; it was more from the lack of commitment. That’s where it starts for me generally.”

Thomas diagnosed that he feels he is getting better at allowing himself in contention. While it also happened last year, the weekend would come and he would force it instead of playing, trusting and believing in himself.

At Hilton Head when he won, Thomas had a full acceptance in coming to play and do the best he could and it made all the difference.

Thomas had one of the best rounds of his career at Oakmont during the 2016 event and did so hitting four fairways and seven greens, a testament to his scrambling abilities.

Thomas doubled down on his Memorial Tournament remarks that U.S. Open practice rounds are some of the worst all year, in fact for many a nine-hole practice round Monday transpired over a similar amount of time as an 18-hole round could come tournament time.

This is because everyone is chipping and putting from all angles on and around the green

“Everybody’s got to hit a chip and a putt from every single spot on or around the green, which it is helpful, but for me, if I feel like it’s a place I haven’t seen, I understand why you want to do that,” understood Thomas. “Again, at the same time, at least what I’ve noticed, it is very helpful, but if I’m not hitting it where I want and controlling the ball like I want, it doesn’t really matter if I’ve hit shots around the green or not. I’m going to struggle if I’m not hitting it well.

“It’s getting kind of the general lay of the land, and I was fortunate enough to take a trip before this to maybe spend a little more time, but it’s more so, so many of these holes, you can stand on one part of the green and look around and be like, ‘Okay, this is not good, this is fine, this is not good, this is fine.’

“Write it down, remember it, whatever you have to do, and then move on.”

JOHNSON HOPEFUL FOR RETURN TO FORM

Dustin Johnson has an honorary Oakmont Country Club membership, but the 2016 U.S. Open champion at this very venue does hope to utilize momentum from last week’s LIV Golf Virginia event, to experience a similar result, especially considering all three rounds were in the 60s.

In 2016, Johnson was one of four golfers to finish under par on a course he considers the hardest he has played.

One thing that works in his favor is that the current course conditions are similar to the ones he won in nine years ago.

“I drove it really straight,” Johnson simply stated. “I hit a lot of fairways. That was the only reason I shot that well. I don’t know, it seems like it’s tougher this time around, but that’s just maybe with the little bit of added length. It’s going to make it a little more difficult. Somehow, I figured out a way to get it under par. It was mostly the driving. Obviously even driving it in the fairway here, it’s still really difficult, but I hit a lot of good drives and a lot of good iron shots.”

Johnson believes his game is really close, but that he has not gotten a lot out of it, specifically that shots are being given away.

“It was nice to finally see the game progress a little bit. I know my score didn’t reflect it at the PGA, but I actually played way better than the score,” concluded Johnson. “I just struggled a little bit on the greens. Well, maybe that’s an understatement. I struggled really bad on the greens. The game is definitely in a lot better shape than it was a few months ago. Golf is a strange sport. I don’t feel like I’ve slipped any. My scores haven’t reflected, but it is a really fine line.”