Xander Schauffele sounds the alarm at 2025 Players Championship: "It's pretty gross, to be completely honest"

Xander Schauffele says he's feeling terrible about his game after 36 holes of the 2025 Players Championship.

Schauffele was forced to take an eight-week break from the sport earlier in the season after injuring his rib.

He returned at last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, finishing in a tie for 40th at Bay Hill. 

At the halfway stage of the PGA Tour's flagship event, he would have hoped to be higher up the leaderboard.

Instead, he is in danger of missing his first cut in 59 starts.

"I was thinking about the cut line for sure," Schauffele told reporters on Friday afternoon, shortly after making a birdie on the 18th to reach a score of 1-under.

Before the afternoon wave of players completed their second rounds, the projected cut was level par.

Asked to assess his play over the first two days, Schauffele said: "Really bad. Yeah, just not very good."

When asked what was preventing him from scoring, he responded: "Everything."

Schauffele said he wasn't hitting the ball close enough, was duffing chips and missing every fairway.

"It's pretty gross, to be completely honest," he said. "So if I can eke out this cut, that would be nice. But the game feels pretty bad."

Despite the negativity, Schauffele said he doesn't feel too far from where he expects to be.

"I know a lot of guys say that," he said. "But I'll get a little bit cosier on the range and kind of get into a decent pattern, and then as soon as I get on the course, it seems to get a little bit more crooked.

"I'm not sure if it's something setup-related or something I'm not doing on the course that I do on the range, but it feels pretty bad."

Schauffele insisted he doesn't believe he's being too hard on himself.

Why? "I almost missed the cut on what is a pretty easy course right now, so I don't think so," he said.

Schauffele has reportedly been advised by his medical team to limit his practice time to avoid aggravating the rib injury further. 

"But [I am] about to blow that out of the water this afternoon," he said.