Gold medal winner Xander Schauffele was 3 under par through his first 5 holes in the opening round of the Zozo Championship, before finishing with an even-par 70.
Schauffele made four bogeys and just one birdie the rest of the way on Thursday at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. He’s seven back of leader Hiroshi Iwata.
Following his disappointing finish, Schauffele was eager to figure out what went wrong.
Full-field scores from the Zozo Championship
“It’s going to have to be something,” Schauffele said when asked what he needed to work on . “I can’t expect to win hitting the way I did the last 12 holes, so I’ll have to go and find something on the range here.”
Schauffele won the Tokyo Olympic men’s golf event in late July. Following some inconsistent play thereafter, he tied for fifth at the Tour Championship, went 4-1-0 at the Ryder Cup and tied for 18th at last week’s CJ Cup, closing in 63.
Schauffele had shot eight consecutive rounds in the 60s on Tour before Thursday’s 70.
“I was 3 under early and finishing even par is not too fun,” he said, “but didn’t shoot myself out of it. Got some work to do coming in.”
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