Xander Schauffele is back. Just him though. Not his game. The lack of golf in his life over the last few weeks was evident as he had a tough opening day at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It was his first competitive eighteen-hole round in nearly eight weeks and the rust was there for all to see.

The Bay Hill Club and Lodge Course is an unforgiving set up and Schauffele ended up bogeying six of the first 10 holes. However, his game improved well towards the latter stages, as he scored on par for 7 of the last eight holes. He is currently at T52 after a birdie on 16, ten shots behind the tournament leading Wyndham Clark. He will be focussed heavily on Day 2 and will try to maintain the bogey-less streak.

Speaking about the day’s events, Schauffele was not particularly impressed with himself.  “Yeah, it was, you know, got my a** kicked (smiling) yeah, it’s a tough place to come back to, not going to lie,” Schauffele explained. Bay Hill is a tough course. Not kind to mistakes. Just ask Rory McIlroy in 2022.

He further explained that an easier course would have allowed him to adjust and work around his lack of feel better, “Palm Springs would have been nice, something like that, that would have been a little bit easier, miss a couple, get away with it.”

He acknowledged that he is not seeing the game as he used to before injury. In short, there is some rust that he needs to account for. However, it is something that is to be expected, considering that Schauffele has not featured on the Tour or any other competition, outside of TGL, since the opening tournament of the 2025 season, the Sentry. He had finished T30 then.

The fact that his game was seen slowly improving is a good sign for Schauffele fans. “Yeah, just not really seeing lines, not playing enough break, not giving enough respect to certain holes. Tried hard to prepare, but it really — as the wind laid down I was hitting some nice shots and, you know, that’s what I was more used to.” the two-time major winner added.

This was the second time that the fans are catching Schauffele in action as earlier this week, he made a return to TGL for his team, the New York Golf Club.

Xander Schauffele’s return to the TGL action

Schauffele’s last match before his injury was the TGL opener against Bay Golf Club. His first match after recovery was his team’s last match in the regular season. The New York Golf Club needed a victory to progress through to the playoffs and Schauffele’s return came at the right time.

The World No.2 led his team past the daunting Boston Common Golf and his play was a crucial difference-maker down the stretch. After 11 holes, 9 holes of triples and 2 holes of singles, New York was trailing Boston 6-5. Schauffele was up next to play against Adam Scott. He birdied the 3-par hole and ended up giving the lead and two crucial points to his team.

At the last hole of the game, he again birdied the 5-par hole from a difficult spot outside the green to allow New York to clinch the playoffs and the win with a 6-10 score line. He showed limited signs of rust at the SoFi Center, however, it is a different setting, compared to a gruelling 18-hole day on a regulation course.

Do you think the World No.2 can recover and put forth a strong finish to his return from injury? Or do you think that he will need some time to work through the rust?