Xander Schauffele won the PGA Championship this weekend and Wayne ‘Radar’ Riley believes he spotted the moment when the American put the peddle to the floor.
The 30-year-old finally got the monkey off his back and got over the line as he held his nerve to hole a crucial putt on the 18th and avoid a playoff with Bryson DeChambeau.
For Schauffele, it now means he is part of that illustrious list of major winners and the pressure will be off now when it comes to being in contention in the future.
However, the American didn’t half have to fight for it. Indeed, at one point, Viktor Hovland took the lead as Schauffele stalled with a bogey on 10.
And watching on for Sky with his on-course commentary, Wayne Riley believes that was the moment it all changed.
Wayne Riley shares what Xander Schauffele did after hitting a bogey on the tenth at Valhalla
Speaking on Sky Sports after seeing Schauffele take the crown, Riley shared what he’d noticed the American do after his bogey on the 10th.
“He was on his game. Let’s face it. He was on his game last week for three rounds and then Rory tore him down on Sunday. This week, it wasn’t going to happen,” Riley said.
“He’s a golfer who can hit it high, he can hit it low, left to right, right to left, whatever you want. He’s a great chipper. Putting sometimes he gets a little tentative and I think that has held him back before. But he has got it done today.
“He was the best player this week and at one stage he was one behind.
“On the 11th green he knew he was one behind Viktor at that time. I saw him looking up at the board four times, because he was waiting for the TV to turn over and waiting for the first page. Once he saw he binned it there at 11 and off he went.”
Schauffele had to dig deep to win
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This wasn’t a case of Xander Schauffele racing into a lead and simply going on to dominate. Far from it, in fact.
After coming so close in all the other majors without getting over the line and relinquishing a lead to Rory McIlroy last week at the Wells Fargo, the pressure was truly on.
Add to that the fact that both Hovland and DeChambeau were right on his tail throughout, and this was a major championship that was more than earned through hard graft.
Schauffele could now go on to win more with the pressure lifted and in a way, it’s good for golf that someone has stepped up to usurp Scottie Scheffler.
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