Xander Schauffele fears teammate's humour is too rude for 2023

When quizzed on Patrick Cantlay's ability to make a joke, Schauffele revealed his humour couldn't be repeated in 2023.

26 Sep 2023

Sitting down for his post-practice round press conference at Marco Simone, Xander Schauffele was quizzed about his relationship with Patrick Cantlay and revealed to a bemused media room that he didn't think any of his jokes were repeatable in 2023.

Reacting to a question over whether or not Cantlay had ever told him a joke, Schauffele revealed that he had indeed made some excellent jokes over lunch, however, when pressed to reveal what they had been about, he was reluctant to share any with the room.

He said:

"He was actually just telling a ton of jokes at lunch. None that I can repeat in this room obviously."

A curious reporter then enquired as to whether or not the jokes were rude.

To which Schauffele responded:

"Depends on what rude means to you, it's 2023. There's not much you can say anymore, is there?"

Clearly fearing the opportunity to inadvertently cancel his friend and teammate, Schauffele trod carefully through questioning but was much more outspoken when it came to how the two help each other out on the course.

He said:

"He's an incredible golfer. He's an easy guy to lean on because he's so good at golf. We just have a really good time, and when we get things going, it kind of feels like we kind of kick it into cruise control.

"No matter where we are on the hole, you know, fortunately, he tends to put me in the fairway, or if he's chipping, he chips me to tap in, so he's an easy person to lean on to stay positive."

Having been grouped together for today's practice round, it appears the duo will once again tee it up together this week.

Close friends both on and off the course, the two were paired together at both the 2021 Ryder Cup and 2022 President's Cup, taking four points from a possible five across the two events.

Cantlay and Schauffele were grouped with another familiar pairing in today's practice round, as Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas made up the fourball.

When questioned on Thomas' poor form heading into the Ryder Cup, Schauffele was quick to come to his teammate's defence.

He said:

"I Played with JT in Florida before we came out here, and his form was pretty good. We had a couple of good matches, and he actually smoked me in one match, and we had another good match that we tied. He just hates losing, he said it before, and I've heard him say it, he gets up for these (Ryder Cups), and you see a lot more emotion out of him than you normally would at an individual event on the PGA Tour."

When questioned about the famous first tee shot at the Ryder Cup, Schauffele was also quick to downplay the emphasis fans and the media like to put on it.

He said:

"You guys like to cover it a lot, and I get it, for golf, it's spectacular, you know. But it just counts as one shot. So, it's just the same as like a tap-in or a two-foot putt. It's just like one tee shot."

Keeping his cards close to his chest, Schauffele seemed cool and collected in his interview. With the eyes of the golfing world upon him, he gave a typically measured response to the remainder of the questioning in his press conference.

Here's to hoping someone asks Cantlay what his favourite joke is when he next steps in for an interview.

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