MONTREAL – The closest the U.S. Presidents Cup team had to angst coming into this year’s matches was team leadership.
The last time an American team, either Presidents or Ryder Cup, took the field without Justin Thomas or Jordan Spieth was 2012 and filling that leadership void was likely atop captain Jim Furyk’s to-do list heading to Royal Montreal.
Enter Xander Schauffele, who was already an American team staple but has evolved into this squad’s de facto front man.
“You know, I’ve always known Xander and admired his game, but I just really feel like he’s stepped up here in the last few years, and I’ve just witnessed how he is in the team room, how he carries himself,” Furyk said. “He’s a confident person, but I think he instills confidence in others, as well.”
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It was during a dinner with prospective team members at last month’s FedEx St. Jude Championship when Schauffele began to emerge as the likely stand in for Spieth and Thomas.
“I took those guys to dinner a number of different times this year, and in Memphis he kind of, in my opinion, was kind of the life of the party in that room, had some fun,” Furyk said.
When the U.S. team began its preparation for the matches last Sunday it became clear that Schauffele made for a leadership role.
Schauffele was already an accomplished team player with a 6-3-0 record in two Presidents Cup starts and it’s probably not a coincidence that he assumed his unofficial locker-room duty following a career year that included victories at the PGA Championship and Open Championship, his first major triumphs.
“I think the only thing I’m leading are probably words per minute,” Schauffele said when asked his leadership style. “A little bit of what these boys are dealing with – a few extra words than normal and a little bit of mental abuse here and there, but hopefully toughen them up.”
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But if giving the team the needle is Schauffele’s leadership language he also wasted no time leading by example, heading out in the day’s first foursomes match Thursday alongside Tony Finau with devastating efficiency.
For the match, Schauffele was 5 under on his own ball and even when he and Finau coughed up a narrow, 1-up lead on the 16th hole, Schauffele rallied with a tee shot to 8 feet at the par-3 17th hole for birdie and then another sublime iron shot at the par-4 18th hole to 3 feet for a 1-up victory, helping the U.S. to its first session sweep since 2007 (also at Royal Montreal).
To put Schauffele’s performance in context, his 5-under round would have matched Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama’s combined performance on Day 1, the two players who were expected to lead the International side.
“You want folks like that to step up in your team room, the veterans, and show some leadership,” Furyk said. “He’s done a great job.”
