Why Xander Schauffele Is One of the U.S. Ryder Cup Team's Biggest Unknowns

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — One of the biggest questions heading into this Ryder Cup among the U.S. players is one you’d next expect when the year began:

What about Xander Schauffele?

The winner of two major championship in 2024 and considered a rock for the U.S. team has had a disappointing season. It included injury and—given his stature—not much in the way of competitiveness.

He never really contended in a tournament all year and for the first time in his career failed to qualify for the Tour Championship.

Oh, and his wife, Maya, had a baby on Aug. 29, a boy named Victor.

“It’s been awesome,” Schauffele said Tuesday at Bethpage Black on the birth of his son. “I just had a kid. He was born on the 29th of August, little man. His name is Victor. That's my middle name. No, I didn't name him after Viktor Hovland. I was Victor way before Viktor was born.

“I feel very lucky to have my wife. She's at home with him right now. I miss him a bunch. I had to sort of rip the Band-Aid when I was leaving the house, just kiss him on the forehead and walk out before I started staring at him. It's been cool to sort of learn what it's like to be a dad, and I look forward to everything that comes with that.”

That's all good, but there is still concern about Schauffele's golf game. Schauffele did not compete at the Procore Championship two weeks ago where 10 of his teammates teed it up as a sort of bonding-and-competitive session.

His last tournament round came more than five weeks ago on Aug. 17 at the BMW Championship, where he finished tied for 28th and—for the first time since before his rookie year in 2017—didn’t earn enough FedEx Cup points to qualify for the season-ending 30-player Tour Championship.

Schauffele had just three top-10s, including at the Masters and the British Open, and saw his Official World Golf Ranking drop from No. 2 at the start of the year to No. 4.

He still easily made this Ryder Cup team on points but with the birth of his son he's had a lengthy period of inactivity.

“Golf-wise, obviously didn't do a whole lot of golf for a bit, having him and trying to be a good teammate to my wife, because that's kind of all us guys can do early on,” Schauffele said. “I feel like after these two days, surprisingly playing kind of nice. I know, I surprised myself when I came out.

“It was funny to get some texts from captain (Keegan Bradley) and a lot of assistant caps like hey, how you doing? Because I wasn't able to make Napa (for the Procore). But it was good to prepare at home on what was limited sleep but sort of a much clearer head than in season.”

Schauffele never got on track after missing about six weeks early in the year with a rib injury that shut him down soon after the season-opening Sentry. He didn’t return until the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March and played catch-up most of the year while struggling to find his form.

How that plays out this week will be an interesting aspect to the U.S. fortunes.

Schauffele has formed a strong partnership with Patrick Cantlay in foursomes, playing that format nine times throughout five team competitions that has seem them post a 6-3 record. It is difficult to envision Bradley breaking up that duo in a format that can be challenging.

And a solid week by Schauffele might go a long way toward putting to rest a frustrating year on the course.

“There's definitely nice ways to end seasons, so yeah, if we're able to—it's already been a fun start sharing the locker room with these guys and the caddies and the wives and Keegan has done a nice job of bringing everyone in as a big family,” Schauffele said. “There's a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings on that front. But nothing as warm and fuzzy as winning one of these things.

“Baby steps; our team knows it's a process and what we need to do to get it done. It would help me forget a lot about what happened in 2025.”