Xander Schauffele Reveals When He Hopes To Return After Spell Out With Rib Injury
The World No.2 hopes to return to action in early March with the Arnold Palmer Invitational following a spell out with a rib injury


Xander Schauffele has targeted a return to action in March’s Arnold Palmer Invitational after suffering a right rib injury.
Schauffele spoke to Adam Schupak at Golfweek about his ambition to return at the Bay Hill tournament following a frustrating start to the season for the World No.2.
Schauffele has only played once on the PGA Tour this season – a T30 in the first PGA Tour event of the year, The Sentry. He then featured for New York GC in the TGL days later before withdrawing from The American Express. He also wasn’t listed in the field for the Farmers Insurance Open or a scheduled second TGL appearance.
At the time, his team cited a “medical issue” for his absence and days later, Golf Channel reporter Todd Lewis confirmed Schauffele had been suffering from the right rib injury since “late last year.”
There was still no sign of Schauffele by the end of January with the PGA Tour signature event the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and he was again not available for this week’s Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines.
However, there is now light at the end of the tunnel. Schauffele told Schupak: “Taking the Genesis off gives me three weeks leading into Bay Hill. I want to get as many reps under the belt before the Masters. It would be nice to get the competitive blood flowing a few times before going into a really big event and also have the Players coming up."
Xander Schauffele won two of last year's four Majors
Schauffele also admitted that he had underestimated how much the injury had been bothering him. He added: “I need a little more TLC, especially at 31 versus 25 and make sure everything is oiled correctly. I thought I’d be fine and kept going and played through it at Sentry and at the first TGL match. I was pretty much tapped. I knew it was getting significantly worse and needed time off."
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This time last year at the Genesis Invitational, Schauffele racked up his fourth top-10 finish of the year with a T4 at Riviera Country Club to help set up the best year of his career, which included winning two Majors, and he will be hoping his imminent return to action will ensure he can make up for lost time in pursuit of more glory as the year progresses.
Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.
He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.
Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.
Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.
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