PGA Thursday: Xander Schauffele leads again … but look who’s behind him | Golf Channel Podcast

In this edition, the guys discuss Xander Schauffele’s record-setting 62 to open the PGA Championship, plus the starts by Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka and Viktor Hovland. #GolfChannelPodcast #GolfChannel #PGAChampionship

Chapters:
00:00: Xander Schauffele starts hot again … but does it matter?
04:00: What could be different this time around after his opening 62
06:00: Pretty glamorous leaderboard early on at Valhalla
08:00: Rory McIlroy gets the most out of his first-round 66
11:00: Takeaways from Scottie Scheffler’s ho-hum 67
14:00: Can Brooks Koepka (67) win a shootout?

19:00: Why Viktor Hovland (68) might finally be back on the right track
» Subscribe to Golf Channel: https://www.youtube.com/golfchannel?sub_confirmation=1
» For the latest news around golf: https://www.nbcsports.com/golf

Welcome to Golf Channel’s official YouTube channel. We are the #1 destination for everything golf – 24/7. Find golf instruction tips, sneak peeks to our original series, news and tournament coverage. We are part of the NBC Sports Group.

Discover what else Golf Channel has to offer:
Live Coverage on Peacock: https://peacocktv.smart.link/v82e9dl56
Live Scores: http://bit.ly/GCScores
TV Schedule: https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/schedule
Instructional Tips: https://www.golfpass.com/learn
Golf Course Reviews: http://bit.ly/GCCourseReviews

PGA Thursday: Xander Schauffele leads again … but look who’s behind him | Golf Channel Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/golfchannel?sub_confirmation=1

hello and welcome into this edition of the golf Shad podcast with Rex and lav Xander chafl is a top yet another leaderboard he fired a course record nine under 62 Thursday to take a three shot lead at the PJ Championship over Tony feno and sah theala Xander also became the first player to record 262s in a major championship he also did it last year at the US Open at La Country Club he also recks has the lowest all-time first round scoring average in major championship history at 69.81 what does it mean I mean it means he’s playing really really well I don’t think we needed to see that out of him today though based on what he did last week at qu Hollow another major championship type of venue and as you pointed out the last person to shoot 62 in a major championship which is the Benchmark was hold on let me check my notes yep that’s right it was Zer last year at the US Open he he knows how to get off to fast starts all those things we we used to say about roor about oh he struggles in the first round he’s probably putting too much pressure on himself it seems like Xander is the exact opposite and what we’re seeing is the fruits of all that labor we we’ve touched on the idea of the work that he’s done with Chris KO it has has paid off in Spades I spoke with some folks from Callaway this afternoon because I was trying to figure out because JT who was paired with Xander today talked about he’s impressive because he’s always had a very very even Keel on the golf course he doesn’t get too high it doesn’t get too low he’s kind of thef perfect golfer on in that sense he has a really really good short game the difference now as JT pointed out is he hits it so much longer and when I spoke with the folks at Callaway they said if you look at his stats driving distance is not that much bigger year-over-year not that much greater year-over-year where you see the improvements is incrementally incrementally in the ball speeds he’s picked up about five miles an hour in ball speed which equates to about 10 miles an hour I mean which equates to 10 extra yards when he needs it when he wants it he’s got that in reserve and I think that’s what we saw today and you can dominate a golf course even a major championship golf course when you have all those tools in place I mean Xander shley is not and was not short he has never been short on the PJ tour but he’s hitting absolute seeds right now like you and I it’s it’s it’s almost breathtaking to see in person how fast the ball is coming off of his Club face it’s not necessarily that high but they’re just like Frozen Ropes and can shape it both ways it’s extremely impressive and he paired that on Thursday at least with a very hot putter I wish I had the stats in front of because I was on the live from Des earli this week with Paige McKenzie and she did an amazing breakdown of how good xanders Sha’s putting is over the first two rounds and then once he gets himself into contention on the weekend how poor it tends to be I I was struck wxed by Xander shaay in his press conference on Thursday saying yeah essentially yeah but it’s only Thursday you know it’s it’s this is this is is familiar territory for him he’s been there before I think even Xander knows that now he has to prove it when it comes to not just major championships but finishing I think I think just tournaments in general can he finish the deal this is a great Thursday story but I think even Xander knows that it doesn’t ultimately mean all that much well and to your point I kind of went back because I was kind of curious about the stats you had told me that page stat which sounds really really cool and so I went back to his major champion ship scoring averages and when you look at what he’s done in the first round through today’s round he’s got a 69.5 three scoring average for round one in his major championship starts which is really really good when you consider these are supposed to be the hardest most difficult test against best all time best all time first round scoring average best all time but to your point the second round scoring average balloons to 71.85 and it gets slightly better going into the weekend but you’re still almost a stroke higher between the first round and the fourth round and that’s where the difference is going to come we saw it last week at qu Hollow got off to a great start built a pretty good lead going into the weekend and just slowly faded it’s not as though there wasn’t a John Vander moment last week for him at Quil Hollow and to be fair I’m not quite sure anybody could have beat Rory maory when he was in full flight the way he was and the same thing when he got into the hunt at TPC sress in March at the Players Championship he doesn’t implode it’s just he seems to hit a speed bump and can’t get back up to that that blinding speed that you you and I talked about and that’s where the challenge is going to come over the next few rounds like I said almost two strokes higher but there with a round two scoring average so tomorrow will be a telling round you can’t win a major on Friday but whatever it is he’s able to do tomorrow and I don’t expect another 62 but anything in the 60s I think will be a good step forward for him you look historically what he did last year at the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club after the opening round 62 alongside Ricky Fowler he fouled it up with a 70 ultimately finished in a tie for 10th I think the big difference this week and we can talk about the golf course if you really want to Rex it’s not that’s not going to be anywhere good enough like I Xander’s uh Advantage right now is three shots I think by the time he tees off at two o’clock on Friday he could easily be caught by some of the pursuers the golf course is continues to be very soft I was actually surprised scoring actually wasn’t better in the afternoon wave but the golf course is already soft we are expected to get more showers maybe even a couple thunderstorms rolling in that’s just going to make the golf course even more scorable I would anticipate that this is going to be a shootout we’re looking 15 to 20 underpar I think that benefits Xander where in the past I think he’s probably been a little bit too tentative on the weekend he knows he’s going to have to keep the throttle down and continue to be aggressive and not fall into the Trap that I think he has in the past where he’s maybe a little bit timid on the weekend speaking of those pursuers recks what else stood out to you from the opening Round Here Valhalla no disrespect to Xander but I feel like you kind of buried the lead because what we have on day one is a really really cool leaderboard and look that the you know just one of four rounds of 62 at major championships that’s a historic and you go into the history books but what I’m immediately drawn to in my eye is you have Xander chafl you have Tony feno right behind him you have Roy maroy another stroke back your boy Tom Kim came up and made a good day of it today colum morawa Brooks kka is right there we talked at nauseum to start the season through the spring about where are the stars what’s going on the Stars aren’t delivering like we need them to the Stars need to step up the stars are stepping up if you look at what’s going on right now on that leaderboard if you think about the opportunities we have for the weekend you’re right we could see a flip in the morning and this is going to basic be based a lot on how the weather impacts play as my guess is we may end up with some stoppages tomorrow but we see somebody maybe tied for the lead by the time he tees off and it it’s probably going to be one of those big names that I just rattled off and so I’m excited about what’s to come over the next 54 holes yeah there really hasn’t been any player who you know heading into the week you thought had a chance to win this golf tournament who who shot himself out of it on day one John ROM rallied it looked like he was going to literally explode like his head might be blown as smithin explode or homicide instead it’d be a murder homicide wouldn’t it and instead he comes in with a one under 70 if you’re keeping track at home uh wind Clark uh who was playing a little bit erratically over the past couple weeks came in with an even par round of 71 Tiger Woods who none of us thought uh would win or even contend in this tournament did come in with a 72 I’m with you and so that’s why I will take the conversation then to Rory as a player who stood out I think it’s obvious even in his five under 66 that he did not have his best St Roy M ranked 134th off the T Strokes gained that is incredibly un Rory like hit just half the fairways hit just 10 of 18 Greens in regulation and despite what our friend Jason soble of Serius XM asked him after the round I actually thought Rory having followed him on his second nine got quite a bit out of his round he had a lot of momentum saving par putts he made three birdies in a row on his 14th 15th and 16th holes of the day one of them he flagged a wed shot another one he chipped in for birdie after incredibly lucky to to to stay up and not drop Into the Bunker and then on the par 57th this 16th hole of the day I hit a great little nipped pitch shot for another birdie what was your Takeaway on Rory’s round do you think anything that you saw today leads you to believe he can or cannot win this Championship he can he absolutely 100% can and to your point about his driving he gave up more Strokes today which was about one and a quarter shots than he has all season long certainly when you compare to what he did last week with the driver it felt like it was night and day I don’t think that that’s the status quo for the rest of the three rounds I just don’t think he continues to do that because when he’s hitting the ball that well and we’ve seen it before in these runs where the last time we were here he had just won a PGA Tour event WGC up at Bridgestone he had just won the Open Championship and he had done it in dominant fashion with the driver and he gets on those runs and I really feel like right now he is firing up one of those runs so I would expect him to be a little bit more freed up tomorrow a little bit more aggressive with the driver he clearly came into this week probably distracted probably a lot of things going on in his life outside probably probably distracted I’m assuming we haven’t talked to him about it we weren’t allowed to ask him questions about it that that was from the PG of America during his press conference on Wednesday so I’m only guessing that he was distracted so to get through today as he pointed out it was a scrappy round but to get through the today and still be right there in the hunt I I didn’t see anything that leads me to believe that he still can win this yeah definitely a different vibe inide the ropes I was not in Charlotte you were not in Charlotte just watching on TV that was the Rory of kind of circa 2014 he was bouncing he was strutting uh full of confidence uh just just kind of oozing jock Swagger that’s not the Rory that we saw on Thursday at the PGA Championship spent a lot of time by himself looked deep in thought I’m not I’m not saying that that’s portends anything for the rest of the week I but I do notice a significant contrast from the Roy we saw Sunday in Charlotte versus the the the Roy that we saw Thursday here in Kentucky how about Scotty Sheffer Rex comes in with a four under 67 I followed him on his back nine and to me watching that up close it was a perfect example of what I say when I when I talk about Scotty’s range of outcomes being so predictable I think this round easily could have been 64 or 65 but he was never in danger of being worse than 69 and I walked the back KN with him he missed a five foter on 10 he three putot it on 14 he didn’t capitalize in the par five 18th and yet here he is five shots back of Xander schofl and heading straight to the driving range to make sure it’s even tidier for his second round which begins in 0 12 hours or so and just didn’t even talk to the media just touch base did an interview with ESPN and then moved along to go work with Randy Smith and look he normally does that there’s no alarm Bells there you and I both know that I I will say a it is curious for you to say that because he opened his round by H holding out from the Fairway so he was one he was two under par in one hole and then the other 17 he managed to be two into par so it’s not as though it was normal it was the normal dominant Scotty Sheffer that we saw and I think it’s fair to say that yeah there’s probably some Rust involved here given the fact he’s had some time off there’s there was probably I need to catch up I need to get back into I think Tiger Woods called it after his round tonight to get back into competitive flow and that’s probably where he’s at right now I I would imag imagine that this golf course was as getable as it’s going to be all week long and so he’s probably a little disappointed given the fact that he’s still five shots off the lead so I I I don’t know if there’s anything fundamentally wrong because he goes to the range after every round pretty much and so it’s not like we can sit here and say oh there’s something going on he had to run to the range with Randy Smith nope that’s not the case at all they always do no no he is there’s nothing fundamentally wrong he is leading the field and strokes gained degre in large part because of how well he drove the golf ball I mean he gone on a rope yeah if he would have gone straight to the putting green and Phil Kenyan was there maybe we could have had a different conversation but this is his cool down this is how he clears his head before he goes back to the room and gets ready for tomorrow and he has the quick turnaround as you pointed out like he’ll go early tomorrow the greens will be perfect uh you and I both were were taken by the idea that the majority of the low scoring including Xander 62 came in the morning wave and there was only a handful of players that came from the afternoon wave Tom Kim Scotty Sheffer was in that mix Thomas dietre and was no reason behind it it’s not as though the wind came up it’s not as actually it rained a little bit just a a touch but just enough to keep the moisture in the GRE a splash let’s call it just a dollop and to keep the moisture in the greens so it’s not as though it firmed up there was no wind I mean the only explanation I heard a couple players talk about that yeah the greens got a little chewed up over the course of the day and so that probably made making putts a little bit more difficult but now you flip that side and let’s say that okay the world number one who’s won four out of his last five starts and is as rested as anyone in the field got to still like his chances I mean that’s the only reasonable explanation Scotty sheffler made less than 50 feet worth of putts in his opening round while playing in the afternoon wave yes you can tap down Spike marks that you couldn’t before but as the afternoon wears on the greens get a little bit hairier they get a little bit bumpier they get a little bit slower I I don’t think they were they were scaring players uh this morning either uh but but this afternoon uh I did not see a whole lot of putts being made how about the defending Champion Rex Brooks kepa turning in a four under 67 uh King Brooks did not have much cooking until an eagle on the par five sth his 16th hole of the day and followed up with a birdie on eight to get in at a 67 anything from Brooks’s round stand out to you as he looks ahead to the second round in the afternoon on Friday this is going to be part of my hit tonight for live from alongside uh Todd Lewis I Miss You by the way this week in live from I miss you so much like you and I we have so much fun together no one’s clamoring for us to be together but I do miss being side by side with you in the big chair without adult supervision it’s always one of the most enjoyable parts of the week but I’m with Todd tonight and one of those hits will be on Brooks kkus I’m gon try to I’m gonna I’m gonna do a dry run on this yeah this is what I was thinking because the narrative is with Brooks kka is that he can magically flip that switch we’ve talked about it a lot when it comes to the major championships that he sort of has a gear that we haven’t really seen from a player of this caliber before he just shows up and does special things but during his press conference today he used the word patient six times and he kind of dug into he no he kept being asked about it it was so annoying uh he he did but I did like his answer like normally he’s kind of hard to pry anecdotes out of so for someone who carries a notebook and has to talk in in 90 second clips about him it’s kind of difficult it’s kind of demanding but on this front he actually said that that’s what he kind of had to learn early in his career when it came to how do how do you play well in major championships and it’s to be patient and he said he learned a lot from Gran mcdal and playing alongside DJ early in his career because he admitted he’s not a patient person by Nature that when it comes to his life there’s nothing patient about him so he really had to pick up something he gave an anecdote about playing with DJ one year at the WGC back the old WGC at D where he said DJ was kind of chipping out of the woods and he hit a cart path and essentially went right back to the same spot and he goes uh his blood was boiling but he looked over at DJ and DJ was just laughing and you realize that it’s just one hole like you just have to calm down you have to understand that it’s 72 holes it’s four days there’s a lot that’s going to happen some of it’s going to be good some of it’s going to be bad but you have to move along with it and I think he’s probably Embrace that better than anyone in the game and I think today’s round is a really good example of that that he wasn’t hitting it particularly close he wasn’t playing he wasn’t putting particularly well but he did what he does in the majors and that’s stay patient and stay right there in the hunt folks what do you think I have to clean that up is that is that what reck should go with this evening got about he’s got about to clean it up one point that I would make is that I don’t think that this style of test really suits Brooks kep’s game any longer yes two of his five major championships have come when the winning score was 16 underpar but he has always prided himself on kind of being that Smashmouth player who can just kind of Outlast you where he’s you know he and Ricky Elliott do such a great job of mapping out the golf course always missing on the correct side that’s always a huge point of emphasis never really getting himself in trouble never making double bogeys this is not going to be that sort of test at the PGA Championship again I think it’s one of the criticisms of this golf course is that there’s really not that much trouble in terms of where can you possibly make a double bogey where can you make a triple bogey yes you can make a bogey if you if you miss a t- shot in a bunker and it fail to get up and down but I don’t think there’s a whole lot of volatility that’s possible that means Brooks K is going to have to go deep and that’s not his comfort zone historically in the major championships it’s been you know when he won back in 2017 at Aaron Hills that’s a golf course that we’ve never seen before for a US Open when he outlasted tiger at B Reef in 2018 that was six years ago at an entirely different body for Brooks kka I I think that is concerning if you think that Brooks Kea can defend his title this week I think Xander scha has proven over his career that he could put together a lot of low numbers and he can do so he can do so consecutively and concurrently uh Brooks kept his birdie count I think is something to monitor over the next couple days I just don’t know if he quite packs the same Firepower as some of the players he’s gonna have to catch catch and I would agree with that and but I would also point if we’re going to make that argument that Rory maroy would probably be the on the other side of that coin where he has played his his best major championships on soft wet tracks where hitting at 330 is a huge advantage and where 15 16 17 under par is the winning score so yes I I see what you’re saying and certainly there would be a reason that would be a reason to look at Brooks and be and probably roll your eyes a little bit however he’s still Brooks man and I’m not willing to do that after one round and he’s just five shots back yeah I think it’s just something to point out you may want to finesse that into your answer if you really want to Dows with the viewers I’m doing three notes I don’t have that kind of time I’m doing a note on Xander and Brooks and Victor man a lot going on I’m I’m throwing your boy trackman Maestro out there that’s a great segue because I did want to mention Victor havin as one of the revelations of this PJ Championship yes it was just a 368 yes he was still ranked 30th in Strokes gain T degree but Victor havland news flash has reunited with his old swing Coach Joe Mayo formerly known as the trackman Maestro Who was the player who elevated or at least helped Elevate Victor havin last year to unprecedent Heights at least for his career becoming a FedEx Cup champion becoming a rider cup hero becoming arguably I would say by November the best player in the world Victor has never really discussed the reasons why they broke off that relationship but when they did late last year it has sent Victor down a rabbit hole of golf instruction and different swing theories and methods that quite frankly have not proven uh very successful Joe Mayo is now his third Victor’s thirdd swing coach this year Behind grant weight he he briefly Reed with Dan Ina go dogist as well around the around the Masters and now last week Victor havin reached back out to Joe mayo and started working uh with him Victor said it was a quick fix that that Joe Mayo is such a smart guy got him back in the same swing fields that he had late last year he started seeing some improvement uh on the golf course on the Range as well last week at quell Hollow he had his best ball striking stats of the Year even if he finished outside the top 20 still do you think this Rex could be a breakthrough for Victor hin going back to an Old Source uh it’s a breakthrough already I I don’t know how the rest of the week plays out but just the idea that he had done nothing since last fall when he would I was I would argue was the most dominant player on the planet now he got into fourth in the world but during that stretch when he won back-to-back playoff events and and he looked like going into the Ryder Cup he was going to be the star of that Ryder Cup to get from there to where he is now after the struggles he’s had this year I would already say it’s breakthrough week for him looking at his stats I don’t know if he’s 100% there and this would be and this would be I’m not quite sure like we’re gonna have to work figure this out like we have a really crack research team so I’m gonna put them on this this would be historic if he was able to do this because I’m not quite sure but I’m going to go in a limb and say that if he were to win this major championship he would be the first player to do who was the last player on the Range on Wednesday night I don’t believe that’s ever happened before I’m kidding folks please please be easy with the comments there’s there’s there’s not actually a stat on that but I mean we were we were preparing for our live from hits on Wednesday night it was after 6 PM uh for sure and Victor was still on the Range not with Joe Mayo but just as caddy Shan night I I strongly encourage everyone to go read Kevin vanberg a phenomenal writer who writes now for no laying up he did a deep profile and and told countless anecdotes of Victor staying on the Range until his his until his hands bled till he ran out of teas until his trackman ran out of battery and need to go get charged I mean this is who he is and in the in the feature story that I wrote around the Masters and a TV feature as well about Victor hin like his curiosity is part of who he is his inquisitiveness has led him to get to this point where he’s one of the best players in the world there it’s it’s inarguable that it has cost him at least a little bit you know the that that Curiosity has sidetracked him has distracted him has derailed some of his momentum I think that’s clear to the case uh in this instance yes in the big picture it’ll be five or six months of his career but I’m pretty confident once he’s reuniting now with Joe Mayo I think Victor Hof can get back on the right track and I think he can get back on the right track rather quickly I’m so distracted I’m I’m I’m watching Johnson Wagner do his his uh thing tonight on live from and I’m not I can’t hear the sound but it looks like he’s actually trying to shank a Chip Shot who shanked a chip shot today I I don’t know I I don’t know I don’t know what Johnson is doing I love what he does on live from you and I have talked inly about this I I strongly encourage everyone to watch because he he’s part of a of a show that’s very serious as it should be but he is and I don’t want to call him the comic relief but he’s certainly a different side of that show dose of levity you might say fun with it oh he hits another bad one or maybe he’s not trying to hit bad ones maybe he’s just hitting bad ones I think that’s going to do it we’ve already gone Rex as we typically do five to 10 minutes longer than we wanted to on these mini pods in the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lav so we p a pined it it will reconvene 24 hours from now after the second round of the PJ Championship assuming of course there are no weather delays here at Val Halla in the meantime you guys know the drill NBC sports.com golf for a lace news notes and updates for the PGA Championship thanks for listening thanks for the support talk to you guys on Friday night