After a year of struggles and disappointment while coming back from an injury, and only a couple weeks removed from a painful U.S. defeat in the Ryder Cup, Xander Schauffele has a chance to cap his season with what could be an emotional victory in a country that means so much to him.
Coming off a 63 in the second round, the World No. 4 beautifully handled rainy and windy conditions on Saturday in Japan to shoot five-under-par 67 and move into a tie for the lead with Max Greyserman (71) in the 78-player Baycurrent Classic at Yokohama Country Club.
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In overcoming a four-shot deficit at the start of the day in the event previously known as the Zozo Championship, the 31-year-old Schauffele has a chance to seize a milestone 10th tour victory in his 200th start. The Californian’s last wins were both majors in 2024—the PGA Championship and Open Championship—and the expectation was that Schauffele would only build on that success.
But he suffered a rib injury in December, sat out the early portion of the 2025 schedule, and has taken a lot of time to round back into form. Schauffele posted two top-eight finishes in July—his only other top-10s beyond the Masters—but he couldn’t rally enough to keep his career-long streak alive of playing in the Tour Championship.
His game continued to show some promise in the Ryder Cup despite the Americans’ loss to the Europeans at Bethpage Black. Schauffele went 3-1-0, including a singles victory over Jon Rahm, in the Americans’ too-late charge to join Cameron Young as the only U.S. players to notch three points.
Just before the Ryder Cup, on Aug. 29, Schauffele became a father for the first time, with he and wife Maya welcoming a son, Victor.
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Asked about his confidence after the Baycurrent’s third round, Schauffele said, “It’s growing. It’s a tricky thing. It takes a while to grow, and it goes away quickly. I’m just trying to put one block after the other and slowly grow that confidence. … So far, we’ve been doing that.”
Schauffele’s Japanese ties run deep, and he’s had success in Asia. His mother, Ping-Yi Chen, was born in Chinese Taipei but grew up in Japan, and Xander won his third PGA Tour title at the 2018 HSBC Champions in Shanghai, China. Then came the biggest win of Schauffele’s career before the major titles arrived, when he won the Olympic gold medal in the 2021 Tokyo Games.
Now, he’s on the verge of a potential first tour win in Japan, in a final round that is expected to finish at about 3 a.m. ET.
“It would be special, obviously, my grandparents here, my mom growing up here with her brother as well,” Schauffele said. “That’s far away from now, but yeah, to think into the future, it would be an incredible feeling.”
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Schauffele has been cheered this week by his grandparents, who picked him up at the airport and have been at the course. He said his grandmother is 81 and grandfather 91. “You know how the Japanese culture is—they’re very mobile for being old,” he said.
Remarkably, proudly mobile, as it turns out.
“I think my grandpa walked 18 holes no problem,” Schauffele said.
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