Xander Schauffele makes significant personal announcement ahead of Ryder Cup

Xander Schauffele has confirmed his wife recently gave birth to a baby boy named Victor on the eve of the 2025 Ryder Cup.

Schauffele, 31, told reporters at Bethpage that his wife Maya gave birth to their first child on 29 August.

The birth of baby boy Victor meant he was forced to miss out on competing in the Procore Championship two weeks ago in Napa.

Schauffele was the only PGA Tour player on Keegan Bradley's US Ryder Cup team to miss out on the final PGA Tour event before Bethpage.

The only other member of Bradley's team to miss the action at Silverado Resort North Course was LIV Golf's Bryson DeChambeau, who remains suspended by the PGA Tour. 

Missing out on the Procore Championship also saw Schauffele shuffled back to fourth in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) on the eve of the biennial dust-up against Luke Donald's defending European champions. 

But back to the top of the story and Schauffele confirmed he and his wife Maya have named their newborn son Victor, which is the middle name of the two-time major champion.

Schauffele joked the name has nothing to do with his European rival Viktor Hovland. 

"Yeah, it's been awesome," said Schauffele of his last few weeks.

"I just had a kid. He was born on the 29th of August, little man. His name is Victor. That's my middle name. No, I didn't name him after Viktor Hovland. I was Victor way before Viktor was born.

"It's been awesome. I feel very lucky to have my wife. She's at home with him right now. I miss him a bunch. I had to sort of rip the Band-Aid when I was leaving the house, just kiss him on the forehead and walk out before I started staring at him. It's been cool to sort of learn what it's like to be a dad, and I look forward to everything that comes with that."

As for Schauffele's form arriving into a third appearance on the US Ryder Cup team, it's been sketchy at best for someone who played so well in 2024 winning two major titles at the US PGA and The Open. 

Schauffele's season was largely blighted as a result of sustaining an intercostal strain and a small cartilage tear in his rib cage during the offseason.

The American remains winless since etching his name on the Claret Jug at Royal Troon in July 2024, and he has only registered three top-10 finishes all season - albeit in big tournaments at The Masters (T8), Genesis Scottish Open (T8) and The Open (T7). 

Schauffele admits he's not played a great deal of golf the past month but that he has been preparing at home as best as he can following the birth of his first child. 

"Golf-wise, obviously didn't do a whole lot of golf for a bit, having him and trying to be a good teammate to my wife, because that's kind of all us guys can do early on.

"I feel like after these two days, surprisingly playing kind of nice. I know, I surprised myself when I came out.

"It was funny to get some texts from captain and a lot of assistant caps like hey, how you doing? Because I wasn't able to make Napa. But it was good to prepare at home on what was limited sleep but sort of a much clearer head than in season."

Schauffele was out on the course alongside his best pal Patrick Cantlay during Tuesday's practice round at the Ryder Cup.

As you can see from his Ryder Cup record above, Schauffele is making his third US Ryder Cup team appearance having represented his nation in 2021 at Whistling Straits and 2023 at Marco Simone.

He has a 50% strike rate in his matches with four wins and four losses.