My photo by the toilet sums up my season – Open champion Schauffele

A year ago, the Renaissance Club, home of the Scottish Open, saw a large number of portraits of Open champion Xander Schauffele.

The 31-year-old American was then competing for title; He was also the most recently named USPGA champion, and he was just one week away from winning the Claret Jug at Royal Troon.

Twelve months later, things are still a little different. The media center’s gents loos are decorated with Schauffele’s photo on the front door.

A player who is preparing to defend the sport’s most distinguished title is in for a worrying turn of events with this downgrade.

Schauffele had the best chance of capturing Scottie Scheffler’s place in the world rankings in 2024. His accuracy was so perfect that he could see a target and place his ball where it was immediately after taking a deep breath.

Golf was a straightforward sport.

However, he missed the first few weeks of the 2025 season with a rib injury, and his recovery has been anything but simple. Only one top-10 position has been added to his list throughout the year, making his name hardly appear on a leaderboard.

He made up jokes, “It was nice to see my picture go by the toilet.” That was heartwarming,” she said. It summed up my feelings regarding what is happening right now. “

Although he was amused, this decline represents the first significant setback to an otherwise stellar career. He won the PGA Tour nine times and won the Olympic gold in 2021.

At the beginning of the year, he tore his intercostal muscle, and rediscovering the activities that had already produced so much success has been frustratingly difficult. His swing’s direction was inconsistent, and “bad habits” had begun to percolate.

“The bad place I got the club to this year was new, and the way I was moving the club,” Schauffele said.

“I’ve had a lot of bad shots coming from a certain location, but it was my home.” I’ve been using that, so I’ve been playing it slowly and unproductively. “

He is watching videos of his swinging last year, but it’s difficult to get that feeling back and execute it. Even for the world’s best, it can take a lot of untangling when one mistake leads to another.

This has resulted in secondguessing and tinkering in Schauffele’s case, which is not a malaise that any golfer needs when getting ready for an upcoming Open defense.

He said, “The fact that I can just play freely would really make me happy.” I think the difficulties of trying to play excellent golf, bad golf, and then just fiddling all day drive me nuts.

Throughout this time, Schauffele’s renowned for avoiding missed cuts has remained unbroken. He has played 67 tournaments this season without missing a weekend, which is by far the best record among active players.

Additionally, it is important to mention that his best performances have been at the biggest tournaments. His top 10 ranking was tied for eighth at the Masters, which he did last month at the US Open in 12th place.

However, he continues to be incredibly unimpressed with the state of his game. He said, “It’s just bad across the board.”

His goals for a golfer of his standing are comparatively modest as he aims to win the second Genesis Scottish Open title. I’m attempting to cause some sort of conflict; to try to feel something other than resentment,” Schauffele said.

“I believe I’ve just been enraged,” she said. We love to be in contention and kind of see what you can do, but the main emotion is that it is frustrating.

However, that has been encouraging. You’re aware that this is a battle that I’m going to try to win. I’m battling against myself for small victories.

It would be awesome if we could remove my photo from the bathroom. He nodded his head and said, “I’m just kidding.”

He finished with a more serious message, summarizing the state of his mind ahead of the year’s final major, with The Open at Royal Portrush just around the corner.

That would be a huge win, and wherever I finish, I finish, he said, “If I can play 72 holes this week without altering my golf swing.”