Golf writer Kyle Porter has revealed what the likes of Phil Mickelson and Max Homa would say about Xander Schauffele, before the American sealed his two major titles.
Xander Schauffele has made a stunning play for being the golfer of 2024 in a year which has largely been dominated by Scottie Scheffler. The world number one won six times before July, but the 30-year-old has now won two major championships, including The Open at Royal Troon over the weekend.
Some will feel that Scheffler would swap places with Schauffele, and that is going to be an interesting debate to monitor over the next few months, with the Olympics, Presidents Cup and FedEx Cup play-offs still to come.
Schauffele has definitely silenced a lot of his critics this year, having previously been considered a player who simply could not get the job in the biggest events. He had finished inside the top three at three of the four majors before this year – ultimately completing the set with his win at the PGA Championship at Valhalla.
What Phil Mickelson and Max Homa would previously say about Xander Schauffele
But it seems that many of his peers will not have been surprised by Schauffele’s success, with Porter suggesting that he has been tipped for greatness for some time.
“That he’s doing anything to take away from Scottie Scheffler’s season is crazy, and I feel like Scheffler’s season has kind of drowned out the fact that Xander’s made a real leap up, and he was already really good,” he said.
“The thing that always bugged me about Xander is that you would hear guys like Phil or Max Homa or whoever say, ‘oh, you guys don’t understand’, and it was like I don’t know man, I think we’re seeing it, I think we do understand, I think you might not understand. And I think that’s where it’s changed a little bit for me, maybe we didn’t understand.”
The talent was never in doubt
In fairness, that final step in majors does not necessarily always appear to be about how much quality a player has within their game. Rory McIlroy had made almost 500 putts in a row inside three feet before he missed on the 16th at Pinehurst when the US Open was in his grasp.
Meanwhile, anyone who has six top 5 finishes in majors coming into this year clearly has the talent to win the sport’s biggest events. So Schauffele’s game was unlikely to be the issue; something else has definitely clicked in the last few months.
Justin Rose suggested that Schauffele’s mental game is underrated, and that appears to have been crucial in getting him across the line in both the birdie-fest at Valhalla as well as the largely attritional slog that was Royal Troon.
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