Xander Schauffele endured a moment to forget at the Zozo Championship (Picture: Getty)
Xander Schauffele labelled himself an ‘idiot’ after a costly error led to a quadruple bogey during the first round of the Zozo Championship in Japan.
Back in action for the first time since the Presidents Cup, the World No.2 began his round with eight consecutive pars but ran into trouble when a wayward tee shot on the ninth hole nestled itself among some tree roots.
Rather than take a penalty drop, the American failed not once, but twice, to dislodge his ball back into the fairway before ultimately accepting his fate and taking an unplayable.
Schauffele was quick to laugh off the incident alongside caddie Austin Kaiser but was forced to eventually settle for a quadruple-bogey eight.
‘I wanted to take a photo of it almost, how bad it was,’ the American reflected after the round. ‘For me to think I can do anything definitely got me in a hole there.
‘I should have just taken an unplayable, but I was an idiot and tried to hit it. Then I was stubborn and then tried to hit it again, then finally took an unplayable. I was going to hit it a third time too just because, but yeah, it was a bad spot.
He continued: ‘It’s not something I’ve done in a really long time. It’s probably
been like a year since I had a meltdown like that. All you can do is laugh at it at that point because it’s just terrible.’
Relatable ð
Xander Schauffele laughs off a tough break after his tee shot wedges against a tree root. pic.twitter.com/4REO4G8Q2h
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 24, 2024
The 30-year-old clawed one shot back on the par-3 13th to sign off for an opening-round 73 but admitted he could take solace from the fact that he still has three days left to rectify his score.
‘If this was Sunday and I was in a really good spot and hit my ball – I don’t know how it ended up there, I don’t even know if it hit someone; It was really in a crevasse – yeah, if it was Sunday I would be pissed,’ Schauffele said.
‘Today I’m just trying to brush it off. I’ve got three more days in front of me. Depending on what the leaders do tomorrow, it might be hard to get back into it. I’m going out in the morning, the greens should be a little less bumpy.
‘If I can shoot seven, eight, something even lower, that would be incredible, or string together a bunch of three to five under-par rounds and I could be right there.’
At the other end of the leaderboard, and ten shots better of than Schauffele, is fellow countryman Raylor Moore who shot a seven-under-par first round to lead by one stroke.
Max Greyserman, Eric Cole, and Nico Echavarria – all on six under par – are his closest contenders.
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Source:: Metro
