It says everything about how good Xander Schauffele performed in 2024 that he gave Scottie Scheffler a challenge when it came to the PGA Tour Player of the Year award.
Xander Schauffele‘s 2024 season looks set to be considered a turning point in his career. Previously, the 31-year-old was very much a leading candidate for the best player on the PGA Tour yet to win a major. And there appeared to be a question mark about whether he had what it took to get across the line in the game’s biggest events.
However, Schauffele answered his critics in emphatic fashion this past year. He won the PGA Championship at Valhalla – holding off a spirited challenge from Bryson DeChambeau – while he almost appeared to be playing a completely different course at Royal Troon as he won The Open Championship.
If majors are the biggest factor in determining the success of a player’s season, Schauffele may have had a better year than Scottie Scheffler – who won nine times worldwide.
The PGA Tour player backed to emulate Xander Schauffele and potentially win two majors in 2025
Many will be expecting Scheffler to be the player most likely to win multiple majors in 2025, while Schauffele has an outstanding record at all four of the events. But speaking on The Smylie Show, Smylie Kaufman suggested that there is another name who is going somewhat under the radar ahead of the new season.
“This was a conversation that I was having with you and talking about, is there a player who can do what Xander Schauffele did this year other than Scottie Scheffler, which is go and win two majors? Is there a player capable of doing this? Now, you could say Jon Rahm obviously is capable of doing that, yes. But one who I think, if we can compare Xander Schauffele coming into the year – and one of my favourite episodes we did was with Trevor Immelman, and it was actually to do a bit of a prediction for this past year, and I was like, man is there a guy you think that could break through and could take that next step? He’s like, Xander Schauffele, he’s got to break the door down. And the player that fits that profile right now is Collin Morikawa,” he said.
“He’s a guy that has not won in quite some time. But man, has he been right there. He’s been right there every single week. He’s totally found his game back, and it would not shock me at all to see a year in which Collin has a similar result where he finds a way to win two majors. He’s done it before, winning The Open Championship and the PGA.
“He’s being slept upon so badly right now. Even us, we’ve just talked about it all. But it would not shock me whatsoever to see Collin Morikawa win at the Masters; I could picture that right now, him in a green jacket. And then him picking off The Open Championship at Portrush. That wouldn’t shock me at all.”
The hugely impressive 2024 season of Collin Morikawa
It is surprising that Morikawa did not win on the PGA Tour in 2024. However, the 27-year-old did so many good things throughout the season. He was arguably the best performing player not to win at some stage.
Morikawa registered eight top 10s in the season. Meanwhile, he was second going into the final round at the Masters, while he was tied for the lead after three rounds of the PGA Championship. And he shot the lowest score at the Tour Championship where he finished second.
And he is one of those players who knows what it takes to win majors, having won twice in his first eight starts in the sport’s four biggest tournaments.
An early victory will surely give his confidence a big boost ahead of major season. And while two majors in one year would be a monumental achievement, Kaufman is surely right in saying that he is one of the players who has that ability in his locker.
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