LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Xander Schauffele has hit tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of shots in his career. So, of course, the most important thing he ever had to deal with was one you almost never practice.
Schauffele has spent a career as a runner-up. Yes, he captured a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but in the golf world he was still part of the club that no one wants to belong to – the “best never to win a major” team. A second place in the Masters and the Open, a third place in the US Open – he was close, so very close, which could be worse than missing the cut completely. Hope can’t kill you if you don’t play over the weekend.
So when he stood in the sand of a bunker on 18, with his ball on the edge at shin height, he understood exactly what had to be done. Bryson DeChambeau had capped his PGA Championship with a clutch birdie at 18 to get to -20, the same score Schauffele had off the tee. A par on the hole, and Schauffele would find himself in the uncertainty of a three-hole playoff. A birdie and a first major championship would be his. A bogey and another major title would slip through his hands.
Someone out there is making me earn this nowhe said to himself as he looked over the bulkhead. If you want to be a great champion, these are the kinds of things you have to deal with.
He took a deep breath, grabbed and grabbed again, and hit the ball 219 yards just short of the green, leaving himself 36 yards from the hole. And then it became a matter of going up and down for a major title. One chip later, Schauffele was faced with a six-foot, two-inch putt that would either change his life or amplify the already resonant questions to a deafening level.
Again, Schauffele took a deep breath, grabbed and grabbed again, stroking the ball toward the hole. It was on target all the way, then lipped – for an agonizing moment – around the rim of the cup before falling.
“I don’t really remember it interfering,” Schauffele later recalled. “I heard everyone roaring and looked up at the sky with relief.”
And that was it. PGA Championship secured. Lowest score ever achieved in a major – minus-21. Monkey thrown on its back in the sun.
It’s amazing how one centimeter can change the trajectory of an entire career. If that putt doesn’t fall and the 2024 PGA Championship goes to a three-hole playoff, who knows how that will turn out? If Schauffele doesn’t settle down and birdie two holes immediately after his first (and only) bogey of the day at 10, what will be his story?
Luckily for Schauffele, it’s all behind him now. He will forever be a big winner, with a date at the PGA Championship for however long he wants to claim it. His career has reached a higher level – but not, he was quick to note, as high as that of any of his contemporaries.
“We are all climbing this huge mountain. At the top of the mountain is Scottie Scheffler,” he said. “I won this today, but in the grand scheme of things I’m still not that close to Scottie Scheffler. I got a good hook up there in the mountain on that cliff, and I’m still climbing. Maybe I’ll have a beer there on that side of the hill and enjoy it, but it’s not that hard to chase when someone is that far ahead of you.
One of the first people to greet Schauffele as he left the green was DeChambeau, who watched the tournament unfold after the dramatic birdie at age 18 while staying warm on the practice range. DeChambeau finished several holes ahead of Schauffele, and after signing his scorecard, walked to the Valhalla Range to stay loose in the event of a playoff. (Maybe he was remembering the lesson of Kenny Perry, who had a lead in the clubhouse but then faltered in a playoff when he decided to sit in the broadcast booth instead of going to the television.)
DeChambeau shot into the Kentucky twilight as a large screen showed the tournament to his left. He continued to swing as Schauffele reached the 18th and even hit a ball as Schauffele stood over his final putt.
As the putt spun around the cup and went in, DeChambeau grimaced briefly and then ran up the steep hill to catch Schauffele in the post-round crush. He and Justin Thomas both hugged Schauffele and then stepped back to let him enjoy the life-changing moment.
Afterwards, DeChambeau signed a few more autographs for some neighborhood kids before turning contemplative. “Proud of myself for the way I handled adversity,” he said after scoring a 64 in the final round. “Definitely disappointing, but one that gives me a lot of momentum for the rest of the majors. I said today it was closing time, but hopefully it will be closing time, hopefully during the next few majors.
DeChambeau has two foundational blocks to build on moving forward. First he shot a -20 in a major. That would have been good enough to win, or at least force a playoff, in literally every major ever played before this one. Additionally, he was clearly the fan favorite on Sunday, perhaps due to his new-found dedication to creating both content and celebration for his fanbase.
“When the moment comes, it is very important to know what to do, what to say and how to act,” he said. “I do it much more for the fans and for the people around me and try to be a bit of an entertainer who plays good golf every now and then.”
DeChambeau could be the story later, but for now it’s all Schauffele. As the sun set on the far edges of the front nine, Schauffele posed on the course with wave after wave of PGA of America officials, smiling all the while. And why not? He had achieved a life goal. Even though it took all the way to hole 72 on Sunday evening to claim it.
