U.S. Ryder Cup qualifier Xander Schauffele has stated that it will take “nothing special” for Team USA to retain possession of the Ryder Cup in this years highly-anticipated tournament.
Team USA will look to defend their title in Rome after dismantling Team Europe 19-9 the last time out in 2021, the largest winning margin in the competition since 1967. This was also Schauffele’s debut appearance in the event.
Team USA have not managed to win a Ryder Cup tournament on European soil since 1993 which saw Tom Watson lead his team to glory. However, Schauffele states that his team hasn’t been preoccupied with historical records and believes they won’t need any extraordinary efforts to break that streak.
“We’re not really tainted by that sort of talk,” the 29-year-old California native said speaking to Sports Illustrated.
“People told me we haven’t won since before I was born. I think that’s great, because I don’t really care. I don’t think anyone really cares.
“No one has talked about it, because of course, no one likes talking about losing. It isn’t really something that’s been brought up a lot to us. I’m not on social media a crazy amount, so I haven’t really seen it.
“But none of us are talking about anything of that nature. We’re looking forward to the week and bringing that thing back.”
When asked about the what his team will have to bring to end the drought, the seven-time PGA TOUR champion said: “Nothing special. It may sound weird, but we didn’t do anything special at Whistling Straits.
“All the boys who were there are aware of that, and we have quite a few repeat guys on the team. We’ll stick behind our stats, our team leaders and our captains and go do our thing.
“We’re not really tainted by that sort of talk. People told me we haven’t won since before I was born. I think that’s great, because I don’t really care. I don’t think anyone really cares.”
While Xander Schauffele didn’t accompany his teammates on their scouting trip to Rome last week, he has suggested that their team did some significant work.
“A lot of good intel from the boys. Group chat was firing up for sure,” he said.
“Some very interesting things about the rough. It looks brutal. There’s like four to six different types of grass in it.
“Depending on where your ball ends up – there’s just no real way to practice for it. The fairways are this tight paspalum grass, as we’re told.
“I’m sure the Europeans tried to trick it up a little bit for our boys that went to go practice. I’m sure it’ll look different when we’re there come tournament time.”
The 2023 Ryder Cup will take place between 29 September – 1st October at the Marco Simone Golf Course in Rome.