Xander Schauffele has 2 majors and still a long way from No. 1 in the world

KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — Winning two majors only made Xander Schauffele that much more eager for the next one. The only downer about winning the claret jug at Royal Troon was knowing it would be more than eight months until the next one.

Also on his agenda is reaching No. 1 in the world.

That might take a little longer.

The PGA Tour embarks on a new season without Scottie Scheffler, who cut open his right hand on broken glass preparing Christmas dinner. Even without the No. 1 player at The Sentry, Schauffele eels a lot further away than his No. 2 ranking might suggest.

“It's a wild time,” Schauffele said. “Winning two majors and being closer to the 30th-ranked player than the first ... hat's off to Scottie. He's a beast.”

Schauffele, of course, is no slouch. Both put together a season of remarkable consistency. Schauffele had 15 finishes in the top 10 out of his 21 starts in individual play on the PGA Tour. From May until the end of the season, he went 11 straight events no worse than 15th.

That included a birdie on the last hole to win the PGA Championship at Valhalla, and a command performance in the rain and wind of Royal Troon to win the British Open.

It was the latter that got the attention of Chris Kirk, the defending champion at Kapalua.

“You cannot accurately describe how horrible it is to play golf in that conditions,” Kirk said. “That was one where — obviously, I have a lot of confidence in myself, I believe in my game, I'm a top-50 player — I watched that and was like, ‘There’s no way in hell I could do that.'”

The difference in seasons was Scheffler converted more of those top 10s into titles — seven on the PGA Tour, Olympic gold, and the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, all of them boosting his lead at No. 1 to the largest gap since Tiger Woods in his peak years.

“It's one of my goals that will just have to stay on the calendar for a few more years,” Schauffele said with an easy smile. “If I get there I'll be very happy. But just based on looking at the numbers, yeah, it's going to take some time and patience.”

Now he's on island time, where no one is in a rush.

The 60-man field gets started on the mountainous Plantation Course at Kapalua, which is playing longer than ever with a steady dose of overnight rain.

The Sentry also starts a new structure on the PGA Tour in which only the top 100 players in the FedEx Cup keep their full cards, and the size of fields is shrinking to make sure those who have cards get into more tournaments.

This is the second year that a tournament once limited to only winners has been expanded to include anyone who finished in the top 50 in the FedEx Cup. Of the 60 players, 29 of them failed to win a tournament last year.

That includes Justin Thomas, who at least would appear to be on the upward trend. He missed out on the postseason in 2023 and made it back to the Tour Championship. It was a better year, but not enough for him to be picked for the Presidents Cup.

Consider that to be a big motivator this year with a Ryder Cup on the horizon. The first step is winning, which Thomas hasn't done since the PGA Championship in 2022. Before that, he piled up 15 wins on the PGA Tour in a seven-year stretch.

“I truly felt like I was going to win multiple times every season pretty much, until I lost it a little bit,” Thomas said. "It's just so hard to win out here. Naturally, the better player that you are, you can get away with more mistakes, but come the end of the week on Sunday, you have to win the golf tournament.

“I was fortunate where I was doing it quite often and I still feel like I’m fully capable and expect to do that more,” he said. “But I definitely felt like it should have happened regularly.”

Schauffele can appreciate the feeling. He also had gone two years without winning until he ended that drought in the best way possible — not one major, but two.

It starts with chances, and that has become his hallmark, much like it is for Scheffler. Schauffele comes into Kapalua with the longest active cut streak on the PGA Tour at 56 in a row, which will increase because there is no cut this week.

The record is 142 in a row by Woods. That might be even further away than his goal of replacing Scheffler at No. 1 in the world.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Hideki Matsuyama, of Japan, hits from the 10th tee during the pro-am round of The Sentry golf event, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Max Homa reads the 12th green during the pro-am round of The Sentry golf event, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Sam Burns hits from the 12th fairway during the pro-am round of The Sentry golf event, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Hideki Matsuyama, of Japan, watches his shot from the 13th tee during the pro-am round of The Sentry golf event, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Xander Schauffele walks off the 11th green during the pro-am round of The Sentry golf event, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Xander Schauffele lines up his shot on the 11th green during the pro-am round of The Sentry golf event, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Xander Schauffele follows his shot on the 11th green during the pro-am round of The Sentry golf event, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Xander Schauffele hits from the 10th tee during the pro-am round of The Sentry golf event, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Matt York)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Lamar Jackson thought it was over. That the Baltimore Ravens' unwieldy season would end up in a familiar spot: the playoffs.

Then, rookie kicker Tyler Loop's potential game-winning field goal from 44 yards out drifted a little right. And then a little further right. And then a little further right still.

By the time it fluttered well wide of the goalposts, the playoffs were gone. So was Jackson's certainty after a 26-24 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday night sent the Ravens into what could be a turbulent offseason.

“I'm definitely stunned, man,” Jackson said. “I thought we had it in the bag. ... I don't know what else we can do.”

Jackson, who never really seemed fully healthy during his eighth season as he battled one thing after another, did his part. The two-time NFL MVP passed for 238 yards and three touchdowns, including two long connections with Zay Flowers in the fourth quarter that put the Ravens (8-9) in front.

It just wasn't enough. Baltimore's defense, which played most of the second half without star safety Kyle Hamilton after Hamilton entered the concussion protocol, wilted against 42-year-old Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers passed for a season-high 294 yards, including a 26-yard flip to a wide-open Calvin Austin with 55 seconds to go after a defender slipped, symbolic of a season in which Baltimore's defense only occasionally found its form.

Still, the Ravens had a chance when Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a 28-yard gain on fourth down from midfield. A couple of snaps later, the 24-year-old Loop walked on to try to lift Baltimore to its third straight division title.

Instead, the rookie said he “mishit” it. Whatever it was, it never threatened to sneak between the goalposts.

“It’s disappointing,” Loop said.

Loop was talking about the game. He might as well have been talking about his team's season.

The Ravens began 1-5 as Jackson dealt with injuries and the defense struggled to get stops. Baltimore found a way to briefly tie the Steelers for first in late November, only to then split its next four games, including a home loss to Pittsburgh.

Still, when Jackson and the Ravens walked onto the Acrisure Stadium turf on Sunday night in the 272nd and final game of the NFL regular season, Baltimore was confident. The Ravens drilled Pittsburgh in the opening round of the playoffs a year ago behind the ever-churning legs of running back Derrick Henry.

When Henry ripped off a gain of 40-plus yards on the game's first offensive snap, it looked like it was going to be more of the same. While Henry did rush for 126 yards and joined Hall of Famer Barry Sanders as the only running backs in NFL history to have five 1,500-yard seasons, he was less effective in the second half.

Even that first run was telling of what night it was going to be, as an illegal block by wide receiver Zay Flowers cost Baltimore some field position. The Ravens ended up scoring on the drive anyway, thanks to a 38-yard fourth-down flip from Jackson to a wide-open Devontez Walker, but it started a pattern that was hard to shake as several steps forward were met with one step back on a night the Ravens finished with nine penalties for 78 yards.

“We were having a lot of penalties, which kept stopping drives," Jackson said. “But I'm proud of my guys because we kept overcoming. We kept overcoming adversity and situations like this. Divisional games (can) be like that sometimes.”

Particularly when the Steelers are on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Pittsburgh has won 10 of the last 13 meetings. And while a handful of them have been in late-season matchups with the Ravens already assured of reaching the playoffs, the reality is the Steelers have been able to regularly do something that most others have not: found a way to beat Jackson.

“It comes down to situations like this,” Jackson said. “Two-point conversion one year. Field goal another year. And again this year. Just got to find a way to get that win here.”

And figure out who is going to be around to help get it.

Head coach John Harbaugh's 18th season in Baltimore ended with the Ravens missing the playoffs for just the second time in eight years. Jackson turns 29 this week and is still one of the most electric players in the league.

Yet Harbaugh and Jackson have yet to find a way to have that breakthrough season that Harbaugh enjoyed with Joe Flacco in 2013 when the Ravens won the Super Bowl.

There was hope when the season began that the roadblocks that have long been in the franchise's way — Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes chief among them — would be gone.

While the Ravens did get their way in a sense — the Chiefs will watch the playoffs from afar for the first time in a decade after a nightmarish season of their own — it never all came together.

Jackson declined to endorse Harbaugh returning for a 19th season, saying the loss was still too fresh to zoom out on what it might mean for the franchise going forward.

Harbaugh, for his part, certainly seems up for running it back in the fall.

“I love these guys,” he said afterward. “I love these guys.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, right, hands the ball off to running back Derrick Henry (22) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks with an offical during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, left, greets Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) after an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jabrill Peppers (40) reacts after Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop (33) missed a field goal attempt in the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)