Xander Schauffele had a damning assessment of his recent form after failing to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship.
The world no.3 finished outside the top 30 of the FedExCup standings after a disappointing outing at the BMW Championship, where he finished tied-for-28th.
Despite firing a 4-under 66 on Sunday to claw his way back to 3-over-par, this was Schauffele’s only round of the week that broke 70.
But this wasn’t enough for him to make the cut for next week’s Tour Championship, as he fell well outside the top 30 cut-off point, finishing in 42nd in the rankings.
Schauffele needed to finish at least T21st at Caves Valley Golf Club to have a mathematical chance to qualify for the FedExCup finale.
However, the 31-year-old gave himself a mountain to climb when he shot 4-over 74 in the first round, and was unable to battle back.
Having never finished worse than 15th in the FedExCup, he will now miss the season-ending showpiece in East Lake for the first time in his career.
The two-time major winner had qualified eight straight times, the longest active streak of Tour Championship appearances.
And after seeing his impressive streak come to an end, Schauffele vented his frustrations at his recent performances.
He said: “There’s nothing worse than trying your hardest and playing like a**.
“It’s the worst combo. Some of us do it, some of us don’t. It’s been a while since I have, and I did it for a few weeks now, and it sucked.”
Despite a damning verdict on his recent form, it hasn’t all been negative for Schauffele, who had already secured automatic qualification for Team USA’s Ryder Cup team.
The US’ six automatic qualifiers were confirmed after the final round, with Russell Henley, Bryson DeChambeau and Harris English joining Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun and Schauffele.
With the Europe-USA showdown at Bethpage Black just a month away, the latter will be hoping to rediscover his best form in time.
After clinching both the PGA Championship and US Open in 2024, Schauffele has struggled for the same consistency this year.
He has failed to win a single event in 2025, or a runner-up finish, notching a career-low three top 10s so far in 2025.
This represents his worst return since he first reached the PGA Tour in 2016, with injuries hampering his progress.
After playing through a rib injury at the year-opening tournament at The Sentry, Schauffele stepped away to let the injury heal.
Since returning two months later, he has struggled to hit top form, finishing T8 at the Masters in April, and T12 at the US Open.
And while his FedExCup playoff campaign may now be over, Schauffele will be looking to hone his game in time for the Ryder Cup at the Procore Championship.
The California tournament is the last FedEx Cup Fall event before the continental showdown, which starts on September 26.
On the event, Schauffele said: “I don’t know how many guys have signed up or not, but I wouldn’t say there’s an expectation for us to play, but a lot of us do want to play just to stay fresh, knock off some rust.
“I’ll have an even longer break, so we’ll see how that goes.”
Schauffele also revealed he planned to take a break and mentally recharge after a taxing season.
He continued “At some point I’m going to sit back and reflect and try and learn something from it.
“Yeah, it was mentally a long season for me even though it was short.
“So, physically I feel a lot better, which is a plus. No sort of recurring injury, which is a plus. About the only positives I can think of so far.”