Golf owed Xander Schauffele one, if justice is a factor in sport. He arrived at Valhalla with the record under par in a major round, achieved in the last US Open played in Los Angeles, and on his first day he broke it. His 62 strokes with -9 were a warning to sailors. After accumulating up to twelve places in the top ten in the majors, his time would come sooner or later.
He had to wait until the last shot on the 18th hole in a truly crazy finish. Two games ahead, an interval of a couple of holes, Viktor Hovland and Bryson DeChambeau played a spectacular duel that really tightened the fight for the title. Schauffele (final -21) led by one stroke and DeChambeau’s birdie at the last flag sent the outcome to the play-off. But the most consistent player of the week was not going to miss the opportunity to finally win his first PGA Championship. The LIV representative, the great hope of the Saudi circuit to gain his chest, was second (-20) ahead of the Norwegian (-18). Behind them, Belgian Thomas Detry and Collin Morikawa (-15) tied for fourth place. The Englishman Justin Rose and the Irishman Shane Lowry made -14 in sixth place.
Schauffele has been in charge of breaking one record after another in a week that will go down in history as the victory with the most strokes under par in a major of all time. The playing conditions throughout the week have been perfect in a tournament in which the birdies have been non-stop. Sunday was reached with a good handful of candidates for the title, but in first place, as on the rest of the days, he was always there. Only four had achieved it before to win his first major.
At 30 years old, the one from San Diego registers his name among those chosen. Schauffele is a nice guy, his colleagues like him and he entertains the audience. Ultimately, he deserved it. Son of a Taiwanese woman raised in Japan and a French-German immigrant who was his first swing coach, the winner of the PGA Championship has, in addition to the American, three nationalities on his passport: French, German and Taiwanese. Sports have always been a priority in his family. In fact, his great-grandfather Johann Hoffmann even played for the Austrian soccer team. His other great-grandfather, Richard Schauffele, was a discus, javelin and shot put athlete.
Gold in Tokyo
Schauffele had not won any major after many attempts, but he was already the pride of the entire United States after the gold he hung around his neck in Tokyo 2021, the second edition, after Rio de Janeiro 2016, after the return of golf to the Olympic program . Now, with the conquest of his first major, he will be eternal. Another fact that speaks of the great moment he is going through: only Scottie Scheffler, eighth in the PGA, accumulates more tournaments (7) in the top five than Schauffele (5).
«I have become very patient not getting any victories in the last two years. The people closest to me know how stubborn I can be. Winning, I said before, is a result. But this is impressive. My goal was to get to -22 (I did -21). I didn’t want to go to a tiebreaker with Bryson (DeChambeau). It wasn’t something that I enjoyed much. He was telling myself, ‘I need to win this, now.’ And I was able to do it,” said the PGA Championship champion, the fifth consecutive American to win a major after Scottie Scheffler (Masters’24), Brian Harman (British’23), Wyndham Clark (US Open’23) and Brooks Koepka (PGA’23). Who was the last foreigner to lift a ‘major’? Yes… Jon Rahm a year ago at Augusta.
PGA Championship final standings
1. Xander Schauffele, EEUU (-21)
2. Bryson DeChambeau, EEUU (-20)
3. Viktor Hovland, Norway (-18)
4. Thomas Detry, Bélgica (-15)
-. Collin Morikawa, EEUU (-15)
6. Justin Rose, Inglaterra (-14)
-. Shane Lowry, Irlanda (-14)
8. Billy Horschel, USA (-13)
-. Scottie Scheffler, USA (-13)
-. Justin Thomas, USA (-13)
-.Robert MacIntyre, Scotland (-13)
Jon Rahm (E), Adrián Otaegui (E) and David Puig (+3) missed the cut.
2024-05-20 00:38:47
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