Xander Schauffele claimed his second major title of 2024 at The Open Championship on an afternoon of high drama at Royal Troon.
Xander Schauffele says he’ll find more ways to motivate himself other than feeding off the negativity of others after he claimed The Open at Royal Troon on a dramatic final day.
Schauffele, 30, held off an almighty challenge from England’s Justin Rose on the Scottish coast with a remarkable final round performance.
The American carded a 6-under 65 to finish on 9-under and two clear of the crowd favourite Rose and his fellow countryman Billy Horschel.
This was the closest Rose came to lifting the claret jug, 26 years after he finished joint fourth in his Open debut as a 17-year-old amateur.
Schauffele is now a two-time major champion thanks to claiming the PGA Championship at Valhalla earlier in the year.
The golfer has always been highly thought of but for years was regarded as one of the best players to have never won a major championship.
Xander Schauffele
Xander Schauffele
With that moniker came his critics, who accused him of not being able to close.
In other words, he was a choker.
Like current world number one Scottie Scheffler, it took him years to break through.
They say winning your first major is tough but winning your second is even harder.
Schauffele made this look easy.
Now the career grand slam is in sight and you wouldn’t bet against Schauffele winning another gold medal at the forthcoming Olympic Games.
“If you look hard enough, you can always find it,” Schauffele told reporters when asked where he can find his motivation going forward as the negativity of others will subside.
“When you feel like you need an extra kick in the butt, there’s several easy ways to motivate yourself. There’s still a lot of things that I’d like to do in my career, and this is a very big leap towards that.
“The fire is still burning, maybe brighter than ever.”
A new name added to the most iconic trophy in golf.
Xander Schauffele has been etched into golfing history. pic.twitter.com/2FESc4gOfW
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 21, 2024
“My caddie was about to puke”
The final round was a tense affair and in truth a number of players could have lifted the trophy.
Billy Horschel began the final round with a one-shot lead and rallied late to post a 3-under 68 but it was too little, too late for the American.
South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence was in the hunt but was left to rue a costly bogey at the 12th before failing to pick up ground over the closing stages.
Sam Burns was in the mix but dropped six shots in three holes on the back nine to fall by the wayside.
Scheffler unravelled with a bizarre double bogey out of nowhere and later duffed his tee shot on the 18th.
Qualifier Daniel Brown carded a 74 and Shane Lowry battled to a 68 after having a nightmare in the rain on Saturday.
Adam Scott’s bid never got going.
As for Schauffele, by the time he reached the 18th hole he had a three-shot lead.
That arrived courtesy of six birdies and no bogeys.
He told reporters he felt at comfortable, which wasn’t the case at Valhalla.
“I had this sense of calm, a calm I didn’t have when I played at the PGA.
“For some reason, I was calm and collected.
“I was telling my caddie Austin that I felt pretty calm coming down the stretch and he said he was about to puke on the 18th tee.
“I just told myself to just hit it down there and keep moving along.
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