"I'm kind of just swinging” - Xander Schauffele unsure about back ache causing him troubles in Hawaii
Xander Schauffele was forced to withdraw from Wednesday's pro-am at the Sentry Tournament of Champions due to a back ache. The undiagnosed back injury that first afflicted the golfer at the Hero World Challenge seems to have returned.
The 29-year-old has come out to reveal that he isn’t sure about the cause of the pain and he was “just swinging” fine.
The World No. 6 is seemingly struggling to navigate the Kapalua Plantation Course. Despite scoring a respectable three-under 70, Schauffele is nowhere close to his best.
However, the golfer held back from explaining his physical condition. When asked about the backache, the PGA Tour star gave vague answers and said that he was doing fine. However, he soon opened up about it.
Speaking to the media in Hawaii, Xander Schauffele said:
"Yeah, it's great. I've been told I'm fakely optimistic at times.”
Replying to a query asking for an explanation of the injury, the golfer said:
“Just somewhere on my back, posterior chain.”
Todd Lewis: Xander Schauffele (back) "won't be swinging at 100%" in Tournament of Champions.
As a result of the injury, Xander Schauffele's swing speed has visibly dropped. The golfer is currently playing in discomfort. He went on to explain the injury and his concerns over it.
Talking about his game at the Tournament of Champions, Xander said:
"I'm kind of just swinging, a little powder-puffing it out there on a few holes. I needed to lean on my putter on days like this when your kind of just chipping it around. I've done it at home. You know what I mean? Just chip it around the property. When it's kind of cold and you don't feel great, you just chip it around and then you just got to make some more putts.
"You got to kind of score a lot better, and I didn't really do that. Yeah. So I need to stop, need to get away from powder-puffing it and start lashing at it."
Xander Schauffele will get the injury diagnosed after TOC
Xander Schauffele went on to add that he has 'everyone working on it'. The golfer said that he plans to get his back examined more thoroughly in the coming days.
He also revealed that it’ll be done when he returns home to San Diego after the ongoing event. It is pertinent to note that he hasn’t undergone an MRI yet.
Raising concerns over it, he added:
"Hopefully, it doesn't affect my swing that bad from like the feel of it all once I'm healthier," he said, noting that he has never encountered a health issue until recently. "This is new to me. That's why I don't know how to answer these questions is I've never had to do this. Hopefully, we don't have these conversations more often.”
Lots of fairways and greens and some back pain on the way for a -3, 70 for Xander Schauffele in Round 1 of the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Just was a bit sporadic today swinging 80% for every shot, but he's not out of it at T26. ✅👏
(Photo Via Harry How/Getty Images) https://t.co/AvgQwrtTZi
It is also noteworthy that Xander Schauffele is sitting at T26 at the end of round one. Xander wasn’t enjoying being six shots behind the trio of co-leaders Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa and J.J. Spaun.
He said:
"Not good. You see three nine unders on the board and you shoot three under, it's a lot of catching up to do."
It’ll be interesting to see how the golfer holds up with the injury in the coming days.