It’s the first time all year Xander Schauffele has been in contention on the PGA TOUR.

It’s the second year in a row Max Greyserman is in the final group Sunday in Japan.

And the Baycurrent Classic’s finale is set to be a down-to-the-wire thriller with Schauffele and Greyserman tied at 12-under, and three shots clear of the chasing pack.

Even though Greyserman knows the crowd will be leaning one way, he’s ready for the challenge.

“Whether I play with Xander or, I don't know, Tiger in his prime or any other guy out here, it's the same golf. So, I do think the crowd is rooting for Xander a little more than other people, I could sense that a little bit today,” Greyserman admitted. “But plenty of past experience. Final group on a Sunday, I've done that before, done that probably a couple times. Just go out there and do the same thing I do every day.”

Greyserman shot an even-par 71 Saturday at the Yokohama Country Club while Schauffele shot a 4-under 67. The pair will go into Sunday three clear of a five-way tie for third at 9-under, which includes defending champion Nico Echavarria.

Schauffele was 4-under for his first nine holes before making two bogeys and two birdies on his second nine. With wet weather blowing through parts of the day, he said Saturday felt “like a bit of survival.”

“I’m sure (my caddie) Austin wished he had another arm,” Schauffele said. “This is the first time I've been in contention all year I believe, so it's nice. Been playing pretty good golf. The weather's been tricky, so proud of the fight today.”

For Schauffele, it has been an odd year, at least on the results ledger. An injury in January forced him to be sidelined for two months and he never really found a good flow through the balance of the season. He had back-to-back top 10s at the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open Championship – in his title defense – but he also missed the TOUR Championship for the first time in his career.

Winning this week in Japan would be meaningful to end his 2025 campaign with a bang – but also with his familial connection to the country. Schauffele’s grandparents (his grandfather is 91 and his grandmother is 81 and the former walked 18 holes, “no problem,” Schauffele said) are on site supporting him.

And, of course, this would be Schauffele’s first win as a father.

“It would be special obviously, my grandparents here, my mom growing up here with her brother as well. That's far away from now, but yeah, to think into the future, it would be an incredible feeling,” Schauffele said.

Greyserman, meanwhile, admitted he “didn’t really adapt to the elements” on Saturday and made a few uncharacteristic mistakes – including missing a 2-footer for bogey on the par-3 seventh.

“I didn't play very well. I played fine, just made maybe two mistakes that I don't normally make. It was wet. It was not really cold, but the ball wasn't going very far. The course is playing really long, really, really long,” Greyserman explained. “Honestly, just happy to get those 18 holes over with the way I kind of was hitting the ball on some of those holes.”

Still, Greyserman has found himself in the same spot has a year ago in Japan and has a great chance to finally find the winner’s circle on the PGA TOUR. His runner-up result in Japan last year was one of three second-place finishes on the season.

Heading into Sunday this year he said he doesn’t consider falling short, or not winning, a failure. Now he’s hoping to lean on past experiences but notch a different end result.

“When I look at last year, I look at was I in the final group on Sunday," Greyserman said. "Was I playing with a premiere player (Justin Thomas) like I'm playing with tomorrow? I was. And how did I handle that? I thought I handled that really well. I played a good round last year on Sunday and I got beat. I don't think I gave up the tournament by any means. I put a good round together and (Echavarria) birdied two of the last three holes to clip me by one.

"I think what I can look back at last year is when I was in the same exact position as I was last year, I thought I handled everything well and competed well and executed well, so that's the plan for tomorrow.”