Xander Schauffele stood over his PGA Championship-winning putt at Valhalla last month, the thought running through his mind: “You make this and you change your life.” And he did, shedding his title as the “Best Player Never To Win A Major.”
Up until that moment, Schauffele had accumulated 12 major top-10 finishes and an Olympic gold medal, but no major victories. Speaking at the Memorial Tournament prior to his first start since his PGA triumph, Schauffele shared the one close call that has always stood out: the 2018 Open Championship at Carnoustie.
At just his sixth major start, Schauffele found himself in the 54-hole co-lead alongside Jordan Spieth and Kevin Kisner. By Sunday, as he took on the front nine, everything changed. “That front nine Jordan and I played, I mean, we played terrible together,” Schauffele recalled. “Like I remember the front nine, like I can’t even remember the shots that I hit… we got to 10 and we’re like, what just happened to this tournament-type feel.”
Paired with Spieth, both players struggled, with Spieth bogeying and doubling on crucial holes. Schauffele himself was four over between holes 5-7. “We were feeding off each other in the worst ways. It felt so fast,” he admits.
Yet, after this rough start, Schauffele managed to regain some composure. “I took a really deep breath—the nerves were all gone. I put my head down and was able to sort of salvage almost having a shot at coming and winning the thing,” he revealed. Despite birdieing 10 and 14, a bogey on 17 left him two shots short of the eventual winner, Francesco Molinari.
Reflecting on the experience, Schauffele called it a moment of immaturity. “To me that was, I was really immature at that time, and when I look back at the event, that’s a big example in my head of… a time that everything felt really fast, a time that you felt like you weren’t in control of anything you were doing.”
But Schauffele sees value in learning from these setbacks. “You don’t want to fail and then just say, screw it, I’m moving on. I think it’s important to understand everything that happened and address it so you have some closure to that moment.” He certainly proved he could learn, as his triumph at Valhalla demonstrated.
Schauffele’s reflection on his past failures shows his growth and determination. Paired with Viktor Hovland for the first two rounds of the Memorial, he’ll be looking to build on his recent success and leave past regrets firmly behind him.
Source: Golf
