Louisville (United States) (AFP) – Faced with a life-changing, six-foot birdie putt for his first major title, nervous Xander Schauffele was determined it was finally the moment to seize his first major title.
World number three Schauffele took his putter at the par-5 18th hole Sunday in the final round of the PGA Championship, struck the ball and wasn’t sure what happened next. That’s when a roaring Valhalla crowd alerted him that after heartache and near misses, he was at last a major winner.
“I knew I had to birdie the last hole. I was trying to squeak a birdie in there somehow,” he said. “I kept telling myself, ‘I need to earn this, I need to prove this to myself, and this is my time.'”
Schauffele fired a six-under par 65 to finish on 21-under 263, a record low sub-par major score, and defeat fellow American Bryson DeChambeau by one stroke for his first major win. “Just a whirlwind of emotions,” said Schauffele. “It feels amazing. Just a wide range of emotions for me. Very satisfying win.”
“This is awesome. It’s super sweet. But when I break it down, I’m really proud of how I handled certain moments on the course different from the past.” Schauffele had 12 top-10 finishes in majors without a victory until his clutch putt fell into the hole. His triumph also ended a two-year win drought since the 2022 Scottish Open, a run that included 19 top-10 PGA Tour efforts without a triumph.
“I just kept telling myself I need to earn this, earn this and be in the moment, and I was able to do that,” Schauffele said. “I believed in what I can do, and this is just fruits of it.”
– Confidence for Paris – The reigning Olympic champion says this will seal a chance to defend his title at the Paris Games and give him extra motivation as well.
“It’s just a cherry on top,” he said. “It’s totally separate to competing in the Olympics. It definitely helps with the qualifying process. That was my goal was to qualify. I imagine this win probably secures me into qualifying for the Olympics. That’s a whole different ballgame, winning that one, but definitely be able to pull some confidence from this thing.”
When the moment of truth came, Schauffele handled the tension with poise and calm. “I was pretty nervous. I walked up, I saw a little left to right (break). I kept reading it, kept kind of panning. Started to look right to left to me and I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is not what I want for a winning putt,'” Schauffele said. “Fortunately, it was uphill. I ended up playing it straight. It did go left, caught the left side. Just so much relief. I don’t really remember it lipping in. I just heard everyone roaring and I just looked up to the sky in relief.”
“I’ve had that feeling in the past where I’ve done that and I wasn’t able to convert the putt and finally I hit some decent putts with better pace.” Schauffele said he took inspiration from squandering a late lead and losing to Rory McIlroy at Quail Hollow at a PGA Tour event last week.
“I kind of used that as fuel, and it calmed me a little bit knowing I’m coming into a major in good form,” Schauffele said. “All those close calls for me, even last week, that sort of feeling, it gets to you at some point. It just makes this even sweeter. I know it’s a major but just winning in general, this is as sweet as it gets for me.”
He’s happy not to be asked when he will finally win a major. “Definitely a chip on the shoulder there,” Schauffele said. “It’s a lot easier to answer it with this thing sitting next to me now. It was just fuel to my fire.” Schauffele wasn’t overly wowed by the 21-under total, noting the course was receptive due to rain. “It’s just the weather that came through,” he said. “Just getting to 21 just had to be done, and for it to be a part of history is obviously pretty cool.”
© 2024 AFP
