In the early days of his professional career, Xander Schauffele faced a stretch that would have broken many aspiring golfers. He missed five cuts in his first seven tournaments on the Korn Ferry Tour. At one point, he endured a brutal run of nine missed cuts in a row. Frustrated and questioning his future, he found himself sharing cheap motel rooms with his caddie. That resilience in the face of adversity wasn’t just a one-time thing. It has become a defining characteristic of Schauffele’s career. And at the 2025 RBC Heritage, that mental toughness was once again on full display.

Xander Schauffele’s battle with self-doubt and resilience

“It’s tough when you start your day and you see a 10 and a bunch of 7s and you snap-hook one ball OB and you feel like you’re behind the world,“ Schauffele admitted during his post-game press conference after carding 2 under, and sitting at T36 after the first 18 holes. Those imposing numbers on the leaderboard belonged to Justin Thomas.

Thomas had just fired a course record-tying 61, putting him at a stunning 10-under par. Several others were already at 7-under. Then Schauffele’s own troubles began with an errant tee shot. Yet the mental fortitude that has carried Schauffele through his career kicked in immediately. Rather than spiral downward, he regrouped. He set a new target for himself right there on the course. “I kind of stuck it out. My goal was to get to 4 after being 1-over,” he explained. This remarkable ability to reset mentally has become his trademark.

Being hard on himself would be an apt description of Schauffele’s initial reaction. However, his capacity to channel that frustration into focused determination is what sets him apart from many of his peers. The pressure was especially intense coming off a strong T8 finish at the Masters just days earlier. Schauffele had posted rounds of 73-69-70-71 at Augusta. His consistent performance extended his remarkable streak to 12 consecutive top-20 finishes in major championships. But the quick turnaround between tournaments was taking its toll on the field.

His comment about Thomas revealed the physical exhaustion players were experiencing. “Justin, I saw him at the Masters, and I’m sure he’s ready to sleep in for 15 hours,” Schauffele noted. This casual observation highlighted the grueling nature of back-to-back high-pressure tournaments. Thomas had struggled at Augusta with a disappointing T-36 finish. His scorching 61 at Harbour Town came as a surprise to many observers.

Challenging conditions and post-Masters exhaustion

The conditions at Harbour Town Golf Links presented a unique set of challenges. The coastal winds typically play a significant factor in this Pete Dye-designed course. Schauffele noted this in his assessment of the morning groups’ success. “They were just playing really good golf. I think the wind was down this morning and they played amazingly,” he observed.

The narrow fairways and small greens at Harbour Town demand precision. This is especially taxing coming directly after the vast expanses and undulating greens of Augusta National. Players must make a dramatic adjustment in their approach and shot selection. The mental recalibration is just as important as the physical one.

The post-Masters exhaustion was evident throughout the field. Many players visibly struggled with fatigue after the season’s first major. Thomas’s spectacular round came despite this fatigue factor. He bounced back from shooting 73-71-76-70 at the Masters to card 11 birdies in his opening round at Harbour Town.

Schauffele’s pragmatic approach appears to be serving him well once again. “If this is my bad round this week, I’ll take it,” he said with characteristic calm. His mindset seems perfectly calibrated for the challenges ahead.

Will Schauffele’s mental resilience propel him past Thomas’s remarkable opening salvo? Or will the cumulative fatigue of consecutive tournaments ultimately determine who climbs to the top of the leaderboard? The weekend rounds will tell us which player has most successfully mastered both the course and their own mental and physical limitations.