Xander Schauffele’s crazy Tour Championship streak has him contending

ATLANTA — Xander Schauffele must be named the proprietor of East Lake Golf Membership.

Each time he steps foot on the property for the Tour Championship, he dominates the place.

He did so once more Friday, carding a bogey-free, 6-under 64 to shoot up the leaderboard and into rivalry for the FedEx Cup, simply as our editor, Kendall Capps, predicted. He’s now 12-under for the match.

“You need to type of plot across the property properly, and if you will get your putter going, the greens are so pure you’re feeling like you can begin rolling something in,” Schauffele stated Friday. “It simply suits my eye… I play fairly properly [here], and I’ll want extra of that magic right here on the weekend.”

Picture by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Pictures

Schauffele has invoked magic upon East Lake for his total profession. Since his first Tour Championship in 2017, Schauffele has performed 26 rounds. His scoring common is 67.11, which ranks lowest in PGA Tour historical past amongst these gamers with not less than 10 profession rounds at East Lake.

What’s even crazier about Schauffele’s dominance is he has by no means carded an over-par rating on the Tour Championship.

The important thing to dominating East Lake, in response to Schauffele, is discovering the quick grass.

“In the event you’re hitting the golf green, you may be [aggressive],” Schauffele stated. “However the course will eat you alive if you happen to’re not within the fairway. You’ll be able to handle your means across the property, however for probably the most half, if you happen to attempt to run up this leaderboard, it’s important to begin from the golf green.”

Schauffele discovered 8-of-14 fairways Friday, which isn’t nice, however he nonetheless led the sector in general strokes gained in the course of the second spherical.

He made six birdies, and he discovered the quick grass on every of these holes.

However the former San Diego State Aztec teetered on the point of catastrophe down the stretch.

“The ending was slightly little bit of a scramble,” he admitted. “I made a few good mid-range putts on 16 and 18. That par on 17 was huge for me.”

On the dogleg left par-4 seventeenth, Schauffele hooked one properly left of the golf green and was obscured by timber.

He hit his second shot into the entrance bunker however simply acquired up and down from there.

That’s how gamers ‘handle’ their means round East Lake, taking their medication from mishits and taking part in for pars when wanted.

However Schauffele should play for birdies on Saturday, as he faces a four-shot deficit to Viktor Hovland after 36 holes of play.

“I simply [have to] hold my head down,” he stated. “I lookup on the [leaderboard], and I’m simply barely selecting up floor, so I nonetheless [have] rather a lot to do.”

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By means of. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter @jack_milko for extra golf protection. You should definitely take a look at @_PlayingThrough too.