Why Xander Schauffele Has Had His 'Head In The Sand' For 10 Weeks In Search For Distance

Xander Schauffele says he wants his clubs to do the talking more than ever this year as the American looks to block out the noise surrounding men's professional golf and get back to his best after an injury-affected 2023 campaign.

As the new season gets underway at The Sentry, uncertainly remains surrounding the long-term future of the Tour as negotiations with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) continue.

But Schauffele - winless in 2023 after three victories the season prior - is looking to take a more single-minded approach as he returns to Hawaii and a tournament he won in 2019. 

"A lot of distractions. It's been like that for quite some time," the American said as reflected on the state of men's professional golf ahead of the Sentry.

"Everyone sort of has their opinion and everyone floats around, but I can just speak to sort of what I've been trying to do and that's really dig my head in the sand and try to get back to sort of letting the clubs talk."

The 30-year-old has not been seen in action since the Zozo Championship in October, with his withdrawal from the Hero World Challenge in December reigniting rumours that he may be making the switch to LIV Golf.

However, Schauffele revealed that he instead decided to skip the end-of-year invitational to focus on gaining strength and distance in the off-season. 

The American's average distance of 304.1 yards ranked 68th on the Tour last year, with the strength training a decision in part motivated by the back injury he sustained at this very tournament last year.

"I spoke in the past about how it's a fault of mine and an area I need to work on and, hey, it was hard for me," Schauffele said when asked about his strength training in the off-season.

"I took Bahamas off, which was tough. My caddie and wife and everyone that's part of my little crew that goes down to the Bahamas was obviously very bummed out for me not playing down there because it's like a vacation for everybody, except myself. 

"But I took it off to sort of create this 10-week block for myself, and I really wanted to focus, again, myself, and put my head in the sand, and figured I might as well be as disciplined as possible and try to make some sort of gain in the distance department. So, yeah, I feel healthier. 

"Also, last year I got hurt here [which] was a bit of a wake-up call. It was a bit of a sort of a freak accident almost, what happened, at that time. 

"It was my first injury, and it was a big eye-opener for me. I feel like I may have been more disciplined this time around than in past years to try and actually achieve something this off-season."

Such has been Schauffele's laser-focused mentality this off-season, the American was unaware as to the winners of the Tour's Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards. Not that he even voted. "I, honestly, couldn't care less," he admitted about the awards.

The World No.6 also wouldn't be drawn into any big targets for the year. The American is the defending Olympic champion and may face an uphill battle to qualify for Paris this summer but, right now, Schauffele is not allowing himself to focus on anything past the opening swing of the calendar year.

"Yeah, it's definitely in there in my brain somewhere deep. Deep down," Schauffele conceded about his Olympic ambitions. "[But I] really just want to get off to a good start. I'm honestly more worried about what my West Coast Swing is going to look like right now versus sort of five, six months from now. 

"If I can take care of business, then I'll have to, you know, or if I play well enough, then I think I should be able to qualify for that team. It's going to be tough."