CROMWELL, Conn. — Xander Schauffele knows his way around the TPC River Highlands course, where he won the Travelers Championship in 2022.

But on Friday, with little gas left in the tank, fatigue accelerated by humidity and temperatures in the low 90s, he pushed through a bit uncomfortably.

Still, the No. 2 golfer in the world posted his second-consecutive 5-under 65 and, at 10-under through two rounds, sits just three shots from Tom Kim’s lead (13-under) heading into the weekend.

“I’m playing with what I got. I know this property pretty well, it can be rewarding with good golf shots, but I feel like I’m just trying to — I’m trying to play golf to the best of my ability and that’s kind of what I’ve done the last two days,” he said. “I don’t have all the shots I feel like I can hit comfortably. I putted pretty well for the most part, I missed one short putt I think (Friday), other than that it was pretty solid. Just need to get in some rhythm coming into this weekend and give myself some good looks.”

With the run Schauffele has been on over the last few months, it makes sense that he’s tired.

He has 11 top-10 finishes on the season, seven in his last nine competitions and four in a row. That includes a second-place finish at the Wells Fargo Championship which was followed by a major win in the PGA Championship the next week. He finished eighth in the Memorial Tournament and in a tie for seventh at last weekend’s U.S. Open.

“I think I was in a little bit of denial. This is probably the most in contention I’ve ever been in my life through a pretty hot stretch of golf. I think I’m probably more worn down than I thought I was; than I wanted to admit to my team,” Schauffele said. “I think I got tired once everyone told me that I looked tired. I felt like I was fine. It’s a lot of golf and, yeah, I think not playing this afternoon for myself is going to be helpful to sort of rest up and get ready for the weekend.”

At 10-under par 130, Schauffele is four strokes behind what he shot in the first two rounds when he won in 2022. He finished that tournament at 19-under after shooting 67 and 68 in the final two rounds, respectively.

He finished his round around 2 p.m. Friday, the sun beating down as he recorded his second bogey of the day on No. 17 and saved par on No. 18. He plans to get some rest and cool down before beginning his third round Saturday afternoon.

“It’s been an amazing month for me – a few months, actually. For us golfers it’s like a drug to be in contention. It’s an awesome feeling. It’s why we practice, it’s why we play the game, at least speaking for myself. Having a lot of opportunities to be in that final group on Sunday, even though I haven’t gotten it done very often, only once, actually, in the last two years, is all I could ask for,” he said.

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