Xander Schauffele Commits To Valspar Championship As Injury Return And Masters Prep Ramps Up

World No.3 Xander Schauffele looks set to play this year's Valspar Championship, with his name appearing in the initial field for what is one of three PGA Tour events left before The Masters, the first men's Major Championship of the season.

Schauffele, who won both the PGA Championship and The Open last year, has shown signs of rust since returning from a rib injury.

However, he's also demonstrated his great battling qualities to make the cut at both last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship.

The two-time Major champion arrived at The Players Championship on a streak of 58 straight made cuts, the longest cut run since Tiger Woods’ incredible streak of 142 straight that spanned from 1998 to 2005.

After making back-to-back double bogeys at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Schauffele found himself in danger of missing the cut for the first time since the 2022 Masters.

A string of birdies kept his record intact last week, after which he described his long run of successive cuts made as a "cool thing".

Clearly, one of the standout players from last season has bigger targets than making cuts, but he was back fighting to make the weekend at The Players Championship.

"Really bad," is how Schauffele described his game over the first two rounds at TPC Sawgrass, where he extended his cut streak in narrow fashion, making the cut on the number.

“Just not very good. … Not hitting it close enough, to duffing chips, to missing every fairway, to hitting fairways to missing greens.

"It's pretty gross, to be completely honest. So if I can eke out this cut, that would be nice. But the game feels pretty bad."

Schauffele, who finished tied second at The Masters in 2019, will be hoping to finish strongly this week and then get four more competitive rounds in at the Valspar Championship next week.

The tournament, which takes place at Palm Harbor, Florida, is set to feature 24 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Schauffele finished tied fifth in the event last year, and a similar finish would be the confidence boost he needs ahead of Augusta National.

Those players competing in the $8.7 million event at Innisbrook Resort also include Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Akshay Bhatia, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Sahith Theegala.