With so many world-class players finding form right now, you would be forgiven for overlooking how well Xander Schauffele is playing ahead of major championship season.

It really felt as though the 2025 season was one to largely forget for Schauffele. An injury early in the year halted all of his momentum. He missed out on making the Tour Championship for the first time in his career.

A win at the Baycurrent Classic was a step in the right direction. However, he missed the cut on his first start of 2026 at the Farmers Insurance Open.

With that, it would be easy to look past Schauffele for the majors when the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, and Bryson DeChambeau have all won this year.

Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, is not playing badly at all.

But there are just a few signs that suggest that Schauffele is well-placed to win at least one major.

Xander Schauffele is edging closer to getting back to his best in 2026

Schauffele was arguably the PGA Tour‘s most well-rounded player when he won two majors in the 2024 season.

He was inside the top 12 for every single strokes gained category, except around the greens. He was second from tee to green, and 12th for putting.

Admittedly, he is still some way off that level this season. However, he is 15th from tee to green, 21st for approach, and 33rd off the tee.While he began the week of the Valspar Championship in 53rd on tour for putting, he gained more than two shots on the field on the greens on Sunday at Innisbrook as he set the clubhouse lead early on.

In fact, it is now the fifth tournament in a row in which he has gained strokes on the field off the tee, approaching the green, and putting, according to Data Golf.

The eerie similarity between Xander Schauffele’s recent results and those from the same events in 2024

It is difficult to not get your hopes up about Schauffele when you compare his recent results to how he performed in the weeks leading into The Masters in 2024.

In 2024, Schauffele finished tied for fourth at the Genesis Invitational, tied for 25th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, tied for second at The Players Championship, and tied for fifth at the Valspar Championship.

In 2026, Schauffele finished tied for seventh at the Genesis Invitational, tied for 24th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, tied for third at The Players Championship, and spent the majority of Sunday around the top five at the Valspar.

Schauffele went on to not finish outside the top eight in the four majors in 2024, winning both the PGA Championship and The Open.

Meanwhile, five of his eight top fives in majors have come in The Masters and the US Open, the two he is yet to win.

And even in 2025, when Schauffele was nowhere near his best, he still registered two top 10s and did not finish outside the top 30 in the majors.

It does appear that so many elite players are finding form at exactly the right time. Schauffele has to be considered part of that conversation now, particularly as he already knows what it takes to win the game’s biggest prizes.