Xander Schauffele bounces back after costly blunder to share PGA Championship lead

Xander Schauffele stood in the 15th fairway at Valhalla with a 9-iron in his hand, somewhat confused by the direction of the wind.

He and his caddy, Austin Kaiser, determined that the swirling breeze was hurting them. As such, Schauffele and Kaiser decided to hit a low draw into this back-left hole location.

The decision backfired.

Schauffele pulled it, and his ball landed in some nasty, thick fescue beyond the green beside the gallery.

A creek runs down the right side of this green, too, only adding to the difficulty. So not only did Schauffele face a daunting lie for his third shot, but he also knew that if he overswung, disaster loomed.

And yet, a catastrophe still presented itself.

Schauffele’s third shot went about five feet, settling in some lighter rough. But he could not get up and down to salvage a bogey. Instead, he made a double, immediately coughing up the two-shot lead he held at the time.

“If there wasn’t a hazard over the green, I probably would have swung a lot harder,” Schauffele explained.

“I knew it was going to come out dead. I just couldn’t get myself to swing at it. If I could go back, I would have hit it harder, obviously.”

While Schauffele struggled, his playing partner, Collin Morikawa, made a birdie on 15, thus making it a three-shot swing in a matter of minutes.

But instead of floundering over his final three holes, Schauffele bounced back with a vengeance. He made a par on 16, which settled his nerves. Then, he stuck a pitching wedge from 137 yards on the 17th to a couple of feet, leading to a birdie.

He and Morikawa then walked to the par-5 18th, the easiest hole on the course, tied atop the leaderboard at 14-under.

Both players then made routine birdies to close out their third rounds.

They will begin Sunday’s final round of the PGA Championship at 15-under par, holding a one-shot advantage over Sahith Theegala.

“You want the lead,” Schauffele said about his mindset going into Sunday.

“Against these guys, you want as many shots as you can possibly take, no matter how nerve-racking it can be.”

Valhalla has produced recorded low-scoring conditions, which Schauffele has been able to take advantage of. He opened the tournament with a record-setting 9-under 62, which Shane Lowry matched on Saturday.

“There’s blood in the water. Everyone kind of laughed, and then Shane Lowry almost shot 61 [Saturday],” Schauffele said.

“I imagine someone in that threshold—now that it’s been done twice—is going to shoot something low and post a number early. I imagine that’s going to happen. Like I said, just staying in my lane is what’s going to make me play well.”

All Schauffele can do is focus on his game and try to mitigate mistakes. Bogeys hurt, but players can recover from them. The same cannot be said for double-bogies.

And yet, Schauffele, who will attempt to win his first major on Sunday, somehow bounced back after making his biggest blunder of the week.

“All I can focus on are good golf shots and striking good putts,” Schauffele added.

“At the end of the day, wherever the cards fall, they fall. [But winning] would mean a lot, obviously.”

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.