Xander Schaffelle put an end to his winless streak that lasted over a year by holding off fellow countryman Max Greyserman to win the Baycurrent Classic in Japan.
The 31-year-old American, who was part of the U.S. squad that were defeated by Europe at this year’s Ryder Cup, entered the final round at Yokohama Country Club in a share for the lead alongside Greyserman but the World No. 4 held his nerve throughout the day to card a final-round 64 which featured eight birdies including clutch shots at the 14th and the 17th to repel the persistent challenge of Greyserman and enter the winner’s circle for the first time since the 2024 Open Championship with a 19 under total.
Victory means it’s Schauffele’s 10th title on his 200th PGA TOUR start at a place that holds a lot of sentiment for the American with his mother previously living in the country and his grandparents still residing there. The course is also where he claimed his golf medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
But 2025 has been a difficult year for Schauffele. His start of the season was put on hold due to a rib injury and since his return has failed to find any consistency in his performances having only made three top 10s in 16 starts prior to this event.
“I think every player in any sport, at some point in time you feel like you’re on top of the world and then you feel like, not that you’ve lost it, but you feel less confident,” Schauffele said.
Schauffele admitted this was a “really special” victory and hopes that he can still look back at the season as a successful one.
“Sooner than I thought, to be fair. I was running out of events in 2025 to sort of put my mark on it. I’m sure when I look back on 2025 at the end of my career I’ll smile and think it was a great year.”
It was an all-American top three with Michael Thorbjornsen finishing with a final-round 64 to end three strokes behind on 16 under.
What is the next event?
The next event on the PGA TOUR schedule is the Bank of Utah Championship taking place between 23-26 October at the Black Desert Resort.