Xander Schauffele, who faced questions at the start of the season about his ability to win a major, now boasts two major victories with a brand of golf that hasn’t been seen in 90 years.
Schauffele clinched the PGA Championship at Valhalla with a six-foot birdie putt on the final hole, scoring a 65. In a highly dramatic final round at Royal Troon, where six players were one shot behind and three shots separated nine, Schauffele made a tense Sunday seem like a relaxed stroll along the Irish Sea.
“I think winning the first one helped me a lot today on the back nine. I had some feeling of calmness come through. It was very helpful on what has been one of the hardest back nines I’ve ever played in a tournament,” Schauffele said, told AP News.
“It’s a dream come true to win two majors in one year,” he added. “It took me forever just to win one, and to have two now is something else.”
Schauffele is the first player to win two majors with closing rounds of 65 in the same year, a feat previously only accomplished by Jack Nicklaus over his career.
Throughout the final round, Schauffele exuded a calm, “California chill” vibe, even as the wind at Royal Troon posed significant challenges. Schauffele mentioned telling his caddie and longtime friend, Austin Kaiser, on the 18th tee that he felt calm.
“He said he was about to puke on the 18th tee,” recounted Schauffele, who had his collegiate start at Long Beach State.
There was no need for panic, even as it took Schauffele six holes to make a birdie while others around him began strongly. He played a bogey-free round in the chilly wind, pulling away with three birdies in a four-hole stretch early on the back nine, turning a two-shot deficit into a three-shot lead. Schauffele won by two shots over American Billy Horschel and England’s Justin Rose. Both Horschel and Rose, along with two other players, held a share of the lead at various points on Sunday.
Even with multiple players in contention early, the engraver could start on those 16 letters across the base of the silver claret jug.
Given the windy conditions, the heavy air of the Firth of Clyde, and the punishing nature of the Ayrshire links, Schauffele’s 65 ranks among the great closing rounds in British Open history. Playing in the third-to-last group, his score was just over eight shots better than the field average.
The 30-year-old from San Diego became the first player since Jordan Spieth in 2015 to win his first two majors in the same season, extending American dominance at Royal Troon as the seventh American Open champion in the last eight visits.
Justin Rose closed with a 67, only good for second place. Horschel, who began the final round with a one-shot lead in his bid to win his first major, dropped back around the turn but birdied his last three holes for a 68, his best finish in a major.
“He has a lot of horsepower,” Rose said of Schauffele. “He’s good with a wedge, great with a putter, hits the ball a long way, and his iron play is strong. I think probably one of his most unappreciated qualities is his mentality. He’s such a calm guy out there. I don’t know what he’s feeling, but he certainly makes it look very easy.”
Schauffele had to track down Thriston Lawrence of South Africa, who birdied three of four holes to end the front nine with a 32. Schauffele was two shots behind when it all changed. He hit a wedge out of the left rough on the difficult 11th to within three feet for a birdie. Another wedge on the 13th left him with a 15-foot birdie putt, and a 12-foot birdie on the par-three 14th capped his pivotal run.
Lawrence finished with a 68, earning a trip to the Masters next April, his first time at Augusta National. Scottie Scheffler, who briefly got within one shot of the lead, faltered with a three-putt double bogey on the ninth hole and finished with a 72, tying for seventh.
Scheffler stayed to share a hug with Schauffele, the two top players in golf. Schauffele is the only player this year to finish in the top 10 in all four majors. He finished at nine-under 275 and earned $3.1 million, pushing his season earnings over $15 million, according to NBC News.