LaCava back caddying for Couples this week

THE OVERVIEW His rookie season was always going to be a tough act to follow. Xander Schauffele, overlooked throughout his amateur career, leapt into the limelight with two wins in 2017, including the TOUR Championship. In a matter of months, he transformed from a Web.com Tour graduate worried about keeping his card to one of the game’s young stars. Schauffele didn’t win in his sophomore season but still played well enough to earn a return to East Lake. And then he started the 2019 season by putting an end to his brief victory drought. Just three days after turning 25, he overcame a three-shot deficit on a Sunday in Shanghai to win the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and take over the lead in the FedExCup. He birdied the last two holes of regulation, then birdied the first playoff hole to beat Tony Finau. Schauffele has proven that he can never be counted out. He’s overcome a final-round deficit in all three of his wins. He also birdied the 72nd hole to either win by one or force a playoff in each win. “It just feels good to win again,â€� Schauffele said in Shanghai. He admitted that he “didn’t really know what I was doingâ€� when he first hoisted a TOUR trophy. He’s figured something out. Three wins in just 60 starts proves that. — By Sean Martin Click here to see who else made the Top 30 list. BY THE NUMBERS FEDEXCUP UPDATE Current 2018-19 position: 2nd Playoff appearances: 2 TOUR Championship appearances: 2 Best FedExCup result: Finished third in 2017 when he won the TOUR Championship. SHOTLINK FUN FACT Xander Schauffele is one of nine players with three or more wins since the start of the 2016-17 PGA TOUR season. INSIDER INSIGHTS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Xander Schauffele in 2019. TOUR INSIDER: Schauffele didn’t win in the 2017-18 season, but he saved his best showings for the game’s biggest events. He was runner-up at both THE PLAYERS and The Open Championship and finished sixth at the U.S. Open. He first burst on the scene with a T5 at the U.S. Open during his rookie season. A blue-collar approach serves him well on tough tracks. “That’s been engraved in him forever, to be tough,â€� said his caddie, Austin Kaiser. — By Sean Martin FANTASY INSIDER: Save Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy, Schauffele probably gets more out of his frame than anyone else on the PGA TOUR. (Each is 5-foot-10 and just 160-165 pounds.) Already a winner again this season at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and threatening for position inside the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking, it’s just a matter of time before he secures a victory in a major.  But even if he doesn’t in 2019, expect him to sit higher in next year’s Top 30. Only a new fan to the TOUR needs to be made aware of the fact that he’s that good. — By Rob Bolton EQUIPMENT INSIDER: The most noteworthy pieces of equipment in Schauffele’s bag are his Callaway Forged prototype irons that have the equipment world in awe. Gearheads are anxiously awaiting word from Callaway about their release to the public. Schauffele made headlines in January 2018 when he signed with Callaway following his 2017 Rookie of the Year campaign. He now bags mostly Callaway equipment (fairway woods, irons, wedge and Chrome Soft X golf ball) and an Odyssey O-Works Red #7 CH putter, but he plays a TaylorMade M3 driver and Titleist Vokey SM6 56- and 60-degree wedges. — By Andrew Tursky STYLE INSIDER: Schauffele has the game and fashion sense to turn heads on the PGA TOUR. His style epitomizes the current state of golf fashion — classic looks with a sporty twist. Rather than going big and bold, he keeps his kits fairly simple and relies on razor-sharp fits to make a statement. — By Greg Monteforte

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DUBLIN, Ohio – It’s safe to say the members at Ledgeview Golf and Country Club in Abbotsford, British Columbia, have quite the rooting interest in this week’s Workday Charity Open. Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor – who played their junior golf at Ledgeview – have put themselves squarely in the mix with rounds of 66 and 67, respectively, on Thursday. They’re chasing Collin Morikawa, who leads the tournament after a bogey-free 65 in the first round at Muirfield Village. RELATED: Full leaderboard | How to give Muirfield Village a second identity The 32-year-old Canadians – Taylor is the elder by six months – often roomed together on the road during their early years on the PGA TOUR. Each is married now, and both became fathers in the last year: Taylor’s son was born last October while Hadwin’s daughter arrived in January. For Hadwin, who tied for fourth at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, Thursday’s round was his eighth straight in the 60s and tied his lowest at Muirfield Village, a course that hasn’t been very kind to him in the past. He’s played here five times previously and finished in the top 20 just once. “Obviously had a good week last week and kind of took that momentum into the round,” said Hadwin, who bogeyed his first hole Thursday but more than made amends with seven birdies. “Staying patient. It’s a golf course where you get too aggressive, it’ll sneak up on you pretty quick. “Even with softer conditions than what we’re used to, things aren’t running through fairways and greens are spinning and holding. You can be aggressive, but you get yourself on the wrong side of the hole, even though it’s sort of a tamer Muirfield Village than we may be used to, still a lot of slope on those greens. Just hitting good shots, quality shots to the right side.” Hadwin said his solid play has been building for a while even though he didn’t finish higher than a tie for 41st in his first two starts. Last week at Detroit Golf Club, he didn’t make the kind of rusty mistakes – balls hit out of bounds or in the water – that had marked his first two weeks back in action. “I felt like there were times where last week where I probably could have gotten a few more shots, but I really didn’t have any risk,” Hadwin said. “It was kind of a free-flowing, easy-type round and just not a lot of stress. When you can do that through multiple weeks, it helps a lot.” Hadwin’s buddy Taylor, though, didn’t know quite what to expect when he teed it up at Jack Nicklaus’ signature layout. He’s only played Muirfield Village twice and broken par just twice in six rounds. More to the point, though, the Workday Charity Open, which was essentially organized in a month after the John Deere Classic was canceled in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, marks Taylor’s first start since the TOUR resumed competition five weeks ago. “Obviously the break was great timing for a lot of reasons but have a bit of a cushion, take some more time off, I just really enjoyed being home,” said Taylor, who was grateful for the extra time with young Charlie. “… Yeah, I’m excited to get back out here and play, but it was nice to be home.” Taylor had picked up his second PGA TOUR win prior to the COVID-19 break, going wire-to-wire at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February. He played twice more and got in one round at THE PLAYERS Championship before the TOUR’s showcase event – and the season – was shut down. “I didn’t have a lot of expectations,” Taylor said, thinking about his five-month break. “I’ve played a lot of golf the last month, month and a half, so I felt ready in the sense of playing, in that playing mode. My coach has been here, so I’ve been able to tweak a few things, but I feel pretty good. “I know competitive rust is definitely a thing I’ve had to struggle with in the past, but I’ve felt that I’ve played enough, so I felt good there, and I had no expectations, which is a good thing. So, everything is going well.” Taylor, who is tied with Zach Johnson, Aaron Wise and Hideki Matsuyama, didn’t make a bogey on Thursday. He shot a relatively quiet 35 on the front nine, then drained a 33-footer for birdie at No. 10 and a mere 3-footer for eagle at the 11th to get into the mix. He finished with a flourish, making a 3-footer for a final birdie at No. 18. “I drove it really, really well,” said Taylor, who hit 11 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation. “… I felt like I put myself in play, which is keeping me out here not being a bomber. … I putted solid, and just overall everything was great.”

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