Not that it's easy to follow up a season that featured two major victories, but 2025 so far hasn't been what Xander Schauffele had hoped.
Tee Times | Course Guide | Win with Steyn City
He missed two months with a rib injury, and when he barely made the cut at The Players Championship en route to a 72nd-place finish, Schauffele called his play "pretty gross" and did not believe he might be acting too hard on himself.
However, Schauffele's game has improved since that low point, and his results along with it. Speaking to reporters on Monday ahead of this week's US Open at Oakmont Country Club, he discussed the importance of a level head to his game.
"Like truly being positive, or for me at least, (a) good attitude is being level-headed," Schauffele said. "I think I look pretty level-headed when I play, but internally, I might be absolutely just thrashing myself. I think truly having a good attitude is just sort of accepting what happened and allowing yourself to be pretty much at zero to hit the next shot."
The US Open is notorious among the four majors for being the most challenging championship with the most diabolical conditions. Schauffele may be "thrashing" himself on the inside, but he's come out the other side looking great: Seven top-10 finishes at eight US Opens, the outlier a T14 in 2022.
"Maybe I'm just sick and enjoy the challenge. Something about it playing really hard," Schauffele said. "I think a good attitude goes a long way. It's obviously easier said than done, hard to keep a good attitude through the entire stretch of 72 holes, nonetheless practice rounds as well.
"I don't know, I think they're a lot of fun."
Schauffele, 31, had to learn to be patient when working his way back from his injury, described as a small cartilage tear and an intercostal strain.
After sweating out the cut line at The Players, he said there were medical restrictions on his amount of practice, but he was "about to blow that out of the water."
"I've never been hurt before, so I think it was all kind of new," he said. "Just the mentality. I felt like I was playing at a pretty high level. Then I got hurt. My expectations of what I knew I could do to where I was were very different, and accepting that was tough.
"I think that was sort of the biggest wake-up call for me coming back."
He didn't injure himself worse, and soon after, he enjoyed a run of four straight top-20 finishes that included a T8 at the Masters.
Now, Schauffele is eyeing the third major title of his career Grand Slam, after his triumphant 2024 featured wins at the PGA Championship and Open Championship.
Schauffele knows it will be difficult, just like any US Open before. Just like he likes it.
"Anything close to par is what they want here," Schauffele said. "The members (at Oakmont) absolutely love their property, and the members absolutely want it to be over par. I know what they're rooting for."