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Xander Schauffele wins PGA Championship for first major win of his career

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1 month ago

May 20, 2024

Xander Schauffele wins PGA Championship for first major win of his career

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Xander Schauffele can finally remove the albatross around his neck. Schauffele, golf’s beacon of unrewarded consistency, won the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on Sunday for his first major victory of his career.

He did it in one of the more memorable ways possible, sinking a six-foot birdie putt on 18 as the entire crowd watched. After watching the ball circle the hole before finally dropping in to bring Schauffele to 21 under par, one stroke ahead of Bryson DeChambeau, he threw both arms in the air and flashed perhaps the biggest smile of his career .

It was the lowest score in major championship history.

“I was actually quite emotional when the putt came in. It’s been a while since I won and I kept saying, I had to stay in my lane. It was hard to stay in my lane today,” Schauffele told CBS after winning the Wanamaker Trophy.

Enjoy it all, Xander Schauffele! 👏#PGACamp pic.twitter.com/MXUFh6RDPZ

— PGA Championship (@PGACampionship) May 19, 2024

Schauffele started the day in a loaded and crowded leaderboard full of top players, sharing the lead with Collin Morikawa, only increasing the pressure to end his great misery. Schauffele failed to win in the last three groups this spring. Twenty times he had finished in the top twenty of a major without a victory. Every impressive week was also just another bittersweet reminder that you weren’t good enough to ultimately win the trophy.

But in a low-scoring week, Schauffele opened with a major-record 62 and finished with a 65, rightly establishing himself as one of golf’s best players. He led or co-led after each lap.

A 27-foot birdie putt on No. 1 to start the final round seemed to indicate Schauffele was sending a message to the rest of the field to come get him. He had another birdie at No. 4, then birdies at Nos. 7 and 9 to go out in a 31. It still wasn’t enough to take full control, with Viktor Hovland also making a run.

Schauffele’s bogey at No. 10, his only dropped score of the day, could have been the cause of his long chances at the championship. But the 30-year-old responded with back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12 to move to 20 under. He stayed there, stringing together pars and forcing DeChambeau to come get him. DeChambeau did just that and provided an exciting finish.

Schauffele reached 18, a 573-yard par 5, and played Sunday as the easiest hole on the course, knowing he needed a birdie to win and a par to force a playoff. He had a difficult second shot, his feet in a fairway bunker and a choked 4-iron in his hands. But he hit the ball to 35 feet and then chipped it to the green for the major-winning putt.

“I really didn’t feel like going into a playoff against Bryson. … I told myself this was my chance. Just record it,” Schauffele said.

The putt that made Xander Schauffele a PGA champion! 🏆#PGACamp pic.twitter.com/SjBehodFWu

— PGA Championship (@PGACampionship) May 19, 2024

Schauffele has been one of the best and most stable players on tour for seven years in a row. He has never finished a season with fewer than eleven top-20 finishes and has finished in the top ten in nine of his first seventeen majors. He played on two Ryder Cup teams and only Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomerie and Steve Stricker had spent more weeks in the world top 10 without a major victory.

Yet many of those impressive weeks ended far short of the actual winner. When given the opportunity to beat Hideki Matsuyama at the 2021 Masters, he placed his tee shot on 16 into the water. And far more of his Sundays ended between fifth and fifteenth than actually fighting for first place. He won only 2 of the 8 tournaments in which he entered the final round with a share of the lead.

But Schauffele has such a complete game that you always knew he would stay in contention from week to week. In DataGolf’s skill rankings, he ranks in the top 10 in driving, approach and putting. That’s why he only finished one tournament worse than 23rd all season.

“I think when you don’t win, you want to win more, as strange as that is,” Schauffele said Thursday. “For me, anyway, I respond to it, and I want it more and more and more, and it makes me want to work harder and harder.”

The hope was always that the consistency and overall play over time would eventually lead to a big win. The odds were in Schauffele’s favor on Sunday. He can join the club.