Best Buds Patrick Cantlay And Xander Schauffele To Compete In A Showdown At Riviera

Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay are getting ready for a Sunday showdown at the Genesis Invitational. Schaufelle admitted,

“People needle us, you know what I’m saying. To split us up as teammates, but we’ll do whatever; it’s not a big deal.”

The golfers from South California are at each other’s throats, according to the leaderboard and both share a history of friendship. Even, during the Ryder Cup controversy, Xander supported his friend throughout. 

Whether the golfers will join forces or compete on their own is something to wait for. The golfers are almost under the top ten in the world, with Schauffele in the 7th place and Cantlay in fifth place. We have seen Cantlay maintain first place on the leaderboard, and as Schaufelle also reached second place through an excellent Friday round, people started suspecting a pairing. In the third round, Cantlay received a bogey on hole 17 and that positioned him with a two-shot lead over Schauffele and Zalatoris. What does Schauffele think about the pairing?

What Does Xander Schauffele Think About His Pairing With Cantlay?

Xander said in an interview,

“It’s a pretty comfortable pairing for us. We play a lot, week in and week out, and we both love to compete. There’s nothing more we like to do than compete in big events. We’ve done it a few times and taken shots at each other. It’s something we talk about and something we want to keep doing.”

The golfers have been paired 20 times as competitors. They were also paired twice in Sunday rounds in 2022, where Cantlay won the BMW Championship and Schauffele won the Travelers Championship. The golfers also share Ryder Cup memories and have represented three winning US teams. Their bond started at the 2019 Presidents Cup, where Fred Couples suggested pairing. 

As far as the Riviera match is concerned, Schaufelle is only two points behind. The golfer didn’t play at the Genesis Invitational until 2018 and T9 is his best finish, while Cantlay fits the course better with top-five finishes. Hence, finally, to overtake Cantlay, Schaufelle said,

“There’s just going to be a certain amount of self-belief that needs to go in. I’m not going to look at the board too much. I feel like I can just keep doing what I’m doing—get some pressure on Pat … is the most important thing.” 

As the showdown takes place, it is to see who thrives in the event. 

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• Patrick Cantlay
• Xander Schauffele