Rex Hoggard says Xander Schauffele is brilliant at something which often gets completely overlooked

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Rex Hoggard has suggested that there is actually one part of Xander Schauffele’s game which commonly gets overlooked, after the 30-year-old won The Open Championship on Sunday.

It was Xander Schauffele who triumphed on the weekend at Royal Troon, with the American winning by two ahead of Justin Rose and Billy Horschel to seal his second major title of the year.

Schauffele hardly put a foot wrong, particularly after the fifth hole. The PGA Champion reached the sixth tee at level par for his day, but went on to make six birdies in the next 13 holes to get to nine under par for the tournament. He also did not make a single bogey in his final round in South Ayrshire.

Troon had definitely proved to be problematic for the large majority of the field, with some massive names missing the cut. And few will forget what happened on Saturday as the leaderboard completely bunched up as Shane Lowry went backwards.

One part of Xander Schauffele’s game gets overlooked

But Schauffele made the final round look relatively straightforward, proving to be one of only two players in the top 10 not to make a bogey. Obviously, he was outstanding from tee to green, but Rex Hoggard has told the Golf Channel Podcast that he was particularly impressed by his performance on the putting surfaces.

“You made a really good point about him having all the shots, and I think it kind of gets overlooked a little bit and Chris Como was really, really quick to point out how good of a clutch putter he is,” he said.

“He almost compared him to Tiger Woods in his prime. He doesn’t make every putt, but it seems like he makes the putts that are most important and we certainly saw that on display today, and how it maybe gets overlooked a lot.”

Why Open champion’s putting may not get the credit it deserves

Schauffele perhaps does not get the credit he deserves for his putting because all facets of his game are actually so strong, so it does not feel as if he has a particular strength or a particular weakness.

But he is clearly one of the best putters in the game, with the PGA Tour website showing that he is 10th on tour for strokes gained on the greens this season.

Having cleared the major hurdle at long last, it would be no surprise to see that number improve in the years to come, because he will take so much belief from everything that he has accomplished in 2024.