Xander Schauffele’s third time at the Masters the charm?

With a little more experience under his belt at Augusta National Golf Club, Xander Schauffele could have denied Tiger Woods his fifth green jacket in last year’s Masters Tournament.

Playing in just his second Masters, Schauffele was one of six players who had the lead at some point during the final round. He ended up finishing in a three-way tie for second, one shot behind Woods.

“Experience is massive (at the Masters),” said Schauffele, who turned 27 in October. “Just based on knowing the misses and scrambling. Under some nervous situations, it’s nice to have good memories to fall back on, which I didn’t have.”

He recalls one situation over the final holes, facing shots he’d never seen before.

“I was sitting there laughing with my caddie because I hit it 6 feet past or left it 5 feet short, and I'm sitting there grinding on my 70th hole to try to not three-putt under the gun, but I'm sitting there, I'm like, ’I've never seen this putt before.’”

Schauffele made three birdies on the back nine (Nos. 11, 13 and 14) and avoided bogey for 3-under 33 on the side. He shot 1-under 35 on the front nine and finished with 68.

It was his birdie on No. 14 that gave Schauffele, who was playing in the third-to-last group, the outright lead, albeit only momentarily.

“I knew that putt was for the lead for the moment,” he said. “I did have my 30 seconds in the sun with the lead and it was a really cool feeling. It just proves to my team and I that we can contend and that we can win on the property.”

Since the 2019 Masters, Schauffele has three top-10 finishes in majors. He tied for third in last year’s U.S. Open, tied for 10th at the 2020 PGA Championship in August and was fifth in the 2020 U.S. Open in September.

He also tied for second in the season-ending 2020 Tour Championship this September.

No one played better in the final 54 holes of last year’s Masters than Schauffele.

After opening with 73, he was 13-under the rest of the way, firing rounds of 65-70-68 to finish at 12-under 276. He led the field with 25 birdies.

Of the top eight finishers, he was the only one with an over-par opening round. That didn’t surprise him.

“I’m not known to get off to the hottest of starts in my career, so it wasn’t like it was unfamiliar territory that I was chasing,” Schauffele said. “At the Masters, it’s hard to make up a lot of shots there. As long as you can stay in touch (with the lead) I think that’s how I almost got it done.”

Schauffele said the 2019 Masters “was a dream. I had a chance to win it in my second go-round. It’s more than I can ask for. I was not one bit sad.”

Especially with the way the tournament ended – with Woods winning the Masters for the first time in 14 years and claiming his first major championship in almost 11 years.

“It's hard to really feel bad about how I played, just because, you know, I witnessed history,” Schauffele said. “It was really cool coming down the stretch, all the historic holes, Amen Corner, Nos. 15, 16, Tiger making the roars. I was trying to push myself, but I feel like I got a very full, fully-filled Masters experience in my second year.”