LA JOLLA, Calif. — Xander Schauffele has missed over a month due to a rib injury, as he last played on the PGA Tour in early January in Maui. He then played in the inaugural TGL match two nights after Hideki Matsuyama won The Sentry, but the golfing world has not seen Schauffele since.
Luckily for him, Schauffele appears destined for a PGA Tour return soon. According to Adam Schupak of Golfweek, Schauffele is looking to make his return at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, scheduled for Mar. 6-9.
Schauffele, a San Diego native and a former San Diego State Aztec, did not play at this week’s Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines. He felt he needed to rest and recuperate for a couple of more weeks before the meat of the golfing calendar arrives.
“Taking the Genesis off gives me three weeks leading into Bay Hill,” Schauffele said to Golfweek.
“I want to get as many reps under the belt before the Masters. It would be nice to get the competitive blood flowing a few times before going into a really big event and also have the Players coming up.”
Schauffele injured his rib in the off-season but felt obligated to play through the injury at The Sentry. He did not look like himself that week, though, tying for 30th and coming nowhere close to the top of the leaderboard.
“I need a little more TLC, especially at 31 versus 25 and make sure everything is oiled correctly,” Schauffele added.
“I thought I’d be fine, so I kept going and played through it at Sentry and at the first TGL match. I was pretty much tapped. I knew it was getting significantly worse and needed time off.”
The reigning PGA Championship winner and current Champion Golfer of the Year noted that he is ‘losing his mind’ while sitting at home, but he knows that taking this time away to heal will pay dividends down the road. He wants to compete for years to come and will not risk further injury by laboring through the pain.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
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