Xander Schauffele had not carded a round of 63 or better since August 2024, when he did so during the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, finishing second in the tournament. Schauffele posted precisely that score on Friday, on his way to take a share of the lead a day after.
Schauffele is in Yokohama, Japan, playing in the Baycurrent Classic, formerly the ZOZO Championship, an event he has not missed since 2020. The two-time major champion improved significantly from the first to the second round to climb 23 places on the leaderboard and get into contention for the title.
A bogey-free round with eight birdies did the job to return Schauffele to the top of a PGA Tour tournament after 36 holes. As you may recall, the La Jolla, California native had an up-and-down season after recovering from a rib injury, with only three top 10s and a T7 at the Open Championship as his best result.
“Yesterday I saw a lot of guys going off on that front nine getting off to a good start, so I knew I had to do the same even in the wind. So that’s kind of what I focused on. We had two par 5s early on. Just trying to go as low as possible through five or six holes. It was nice to sort of finally get off to a good start that I wanted,” Schauffele said after the second round, according to the transcripts of his presser.
Before Friday, Schauffele’s best round of the year had been Saturday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, when he carded a 65. He also shot several 66s throughout the season.
The good news continued for Schauffele on Saturday. His performance was not the same as the previous day, but six birdies and two bogeys were more than enough to take a share of the lead at the Baycurrent Classic. His performance was combined with the fact that the 36-hole leader, Max Greyserman, could only manage a third-round 71 and was unable to prevent the two-time major champion from tying him.
It’s been a celebratory weekend for Schauffele in more ways than one. With his performance at the Baycurrent Classic, he extended his streak to 72 consecutive cuts made, by far the longest active run on the PGA Tour. He hasn’t missed a cut since the 2022 Masters.
That milestone also places him in elite company: Schauffele now shares the fifth-longest cuts streak in PGA Tour history with Dow Finsterwald. The all-time record remains Tiger Woods’ astonishing 142.
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