Xander Schauffele is the new PGA Championship winner after holding his nerve to see off Bryson DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland yesterday.
Schauffele produced yet another brilliant round of golf at Valhalla to shoot a fine six-under and finish a shot ahead of DeChambeau on -21 for the tournament.
For the 30-year-old, a major win had been a long-time coming after a number of near misses in every other major, as well as coming up short at the Wells Fargo last week when leading.
Schauffele now adds his name to a long list of Americans to win majors in recent times, and can now go into future tournaments with the monkey off his back.
Of course, the tournament was not handed to him and Schauffele had to grind it out.
And discussing his mindset during round four, the San Diego native has shed light on the discussion he held with caddie, Austin Kaiser, after they’d played nine holes.
Xander Schauffele shares the number he told his caddie they needed to get to win at Valhalla
Speaking to the media after his win, Schauffele explained he’d told Kaiser at the turn what sort of number he needed to win.
“I assumed someone was going to [go low]. My goal was to get to 22 today. I told Austin when we turned, if I can get to 22, someone is going to have to beat me,” Schauffele said.
“I really didn’t want to go into a play off with Bryson. Going up 18 with his length, it was not something I was going to have a hole lot of fun with. But getting up and down on 17 was really big and then that chip there on 18 was big for me as well.
“I kept telling myself I need to earn this and be in the moment and I was able to do that.”
Schauffele more than earns his stripes with first major win
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There was plenty of pressure on Xander Schauffele going into yesterday’s final round.
Colin Morikawa had caught him up and they fired off from the first tee level on -15. But in the end, Schauffele showed tremendous grit and determination to pull clear of Morikawa, and then fight against Hovland and DeChambeau.
At one point, Schauffele had fallen behind with a bogey six on the back nine. But he bounced back immediately with a brilliant birdie and that seemed to set the tone for the final stretch.
His determination and quality on 17 and 18 showed just why he is now a major champion.
Hopefully, this is the first of many for Schauffele and we can see the rest of the season with Scottie Scheffler being challenged each week.
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