MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Open was an eventful week both on and off the course for Xander Schauffele.
A closing 78 at Royal Portrush left him tied for 41st at the year’s last major, but as he soaked in the warm sun at TPC Southwind on Tuesday it wasn’t his final-round scorecard that he wanted to put behind him.
Last Tuesday, Schauffele’s driver failed a CT (characteristic time) test, which uses a pendulum to measure the amount of microseconds a metal ball is in contact with the face when it’s swung against it, and he was forced to find a hasty replacement.
The bigger issue for Schauffele was the inequality of the R&A’s testing and how quickly word spread among players and caddies that his driver had failed.
“I don’t think the R&A leaked the information,” Schauffele said. “The fact is it was leaked, some way or another, to caddies or other players on the range. During the testing time the door was wide open. I don’t know how it happened. [But] their intentions weren’t to ruin any player.”
Schauffele also reiterated that if the ruling bodies are going to perform driver testing they should test every driver, not just the 30 samples that were tested last week by the R&A. He also said that he’s spoken with the player who had jokingly teased him for failing the driver test.
“I cleared the whole cheating thing, me being called a cheater by another player, that got cleared up,” he said. “I’m cool with everyone out here. At no point in any sport do you want to be known as a cheater. I decided to take a stance for my own integrity.”