Xander Schauffele wins British Open for 2nd major this year

TROON, Scotland (AP) — Xander Schauffele went from probably the most nerve-wracking putt of his profession to the best stroll towards an 18th inexperienced he ever imagined.

He received a nail-biter on the PGA Championship in Might. He delivered a masterpiece Sunday within the British Open. Two totally different finishes, two totally different emotions.

One main conclusion.

Schauffele has greater than sufficient recreation and all the boldness on this planet to win the largest championships. Questioned initially of the season whether or not he may win a serious, he now has two of them.

Schauffele closed with a 6-under 65 with a last spherical that ranks among the many most memorable in British Open historical past, significantly the 31 on the again 9. It matched the very best rating of the week at Royal Troon with nothing lower than the claret jug using on the end result.

He performed bogey-free in a frightening wind and turned a two-shot deficit right into a two-shot victory for his second main of the yr.

It additionally gave the Individuals a sweep of the 4 majors for the primary time since 1982.

“It’s a dream come true to win two majors in a single yr,” Schauffele stated. “It took me endlessly simply to win one, and to have two now’s one thing else.”

He received the PGA Championship at Valhalla by making a 6-foot birdie putt on the ultimate gap for a 65. In a last spherical arrange for top drama at Royal Troon — six gamers one shot behind, 9 gamers separated by three photographs — Schauffele made a tense Sunday appear like a pleasant stroll alongside the Irish Sea.

“I believe profitable the primary one helped me lots right this moment on the again 9,” he stated. “I had some feeling of calmness come by. It was very useful on what has been one of many hardest again nines I’ve ever performed in a event.”

It positive didn’t present. Standing on the 18th tee, Schauffele stated he turned to caddie and longtime pal Austin Kaiser and informed him that he had felt relax the decisive again 9.

“He stated he was about to puke,” Schauffele stated.

Within the 90-year historical past of 4 majors, Schauffele grew to become the primary participant to win two majors in a single season with a final-round 65. Jack Nicklaus is the one different participant to do this in his profession.

And he by no means regarded extra calm, oozing that cool California vibe even because the wind introduced a lot hassle at Royal Troon.

Schauffele pulled away with three birdies in a four-hole stretch early on the again 9 to go from two photographs behind to main by as many as three.

He received by two photographs over American Billy Horschel and Justin Rose, the 43-year-old from England who needed to undergo 36-hole qualifying simply to get into the sphere. They have been amongst 4 gamers who had a minimum of a share of the lead at one level Sunday.

They only couldn’t sustain with Schauffele. Nobody may.

“He has lots of horsepower,” Rose stated. “He’s good with a wedge, he’s nice with a putter, he hits the ball a good distance, clearly his iron play is powerful. So he’s acquired lots of weapons on the market. I believe in all probability certainly one of his most unappreciated ones is his mentality. He’s such a peaceful man on the market.

“I don’t know what he’s feeling, however he actually makes it look very straightforward.”

Even with so many gamers in competition early, the engraver was capable of get to work early on these 16 letters throughout the bottom of the silver claret jug.

Schauffele saved looking at golf’s oldest trophy in his press convention, wanting ahead to gazing at it in personal, questioning what sort of drink to pour from it. He stated he’d go away that as much as his father, Stefan, who missed his son’s first main title and was blubbering on the telephone with him.

As to the place that last spherical ranks — Henrik Stenson shot 63 when he received his duel with Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon in 2016 — Schauffele left little doubt the place it stood in his personal profession.

“On the very tip-top,” Schauffele stated. “Greatest spherical I’ve performed.”

Taking part in within the third-to-last group, he matched the spherical of the championship with a rating that was simply over eight photographs higher than the sphere common.

The ultimate birdie was a pitch over a pot bunker to 4 ft on the par-5 sixteenth. The grandstands at The Open are among the many largest, lining each side of the golf green as Schauffele walked by and soaked up the cheers.

“I acquired chills,” he stated.

The 30-year-old from San Diego grew to become the primary participant since Jordan Spieth in 2015 to win his first two majors in the identical season. And he prolonged American dominance on this Scottish hyperlinks because the seventh Open champion within the final eight visits to Royal Troon.

It was the eleventh straight yr for a first-time British Open champion, tying a event file.

Rose began one shot behind and closed with a 67. That was solely good for second place. He had an opportunity to set a file by going the longest time between majors after his 2013 U.S. Open win.

“Gutted once I walked off the course and it hit me arduous as a result of I used to be so robust on the market right this moment,” Rose stated. “Xander acquired it going. I hit a few actually good putts that didn’t fall, after which out of the blue that lead stretched. I left all of it on the market. I’m tremendous happy with how I competed.”

Horschel, who began the ultimate spherical with a one-shot lead in his bid to win his first main, dropped again across the flip and birdied his final three holes for a 68.

“I’m disenchanted. I ought to really feel disenchanted. I had an opportunity to win a serious,” Horschel stated. “I simply made a couple of too many errors right this moment once I didn’t have to.”

The participant Schauffele needed to monitor down was Thriston Lawrence of South Africa, who birdied three of 4 holes to finish the entrance 9 with a 32.

Schauffele was two photographs behind when all of it modified so out of the blue. Schauffele hit a wedge out of the left tough on the troublesome eleventh and judged it completely to three ft for birdie. He hit one other wedge to fifteen ft for birdie on the thirteenth, and capped his pivotal run with a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 14th.

Lawrence lastly dropped a shot on the twelfth and didn’t decide up any photographs the remainder of the day. He closed with a 68 and earned a small comfort — a visit to the Masters subsequent April, his first time to Augusta Nationwide.

Scottie Scheffler, who acquired inside one shot of the lead briefly on the entrance 9, misplaced his manner with a three-putt from 6 ft for a double bogey on the ninth gap. Scheffler completed his spherical by topping a tee shot on the 18th and making one other double bogey. The world’s No. 1 participant closed with a 72 and tied for seventh.

He caught round to share a hug with Schauffele, the 2 prime gamers in golf. Schauffele was the one participant this yr to complete within the prime 10 in all 4 majors.

He completed at 9-under 275 and earned $3.1 million, pushing him over $15 million for the season.

Schauffele went from the heaviest main trophy on the PGA Championship to the smallest and oldest, the famed claret jug.

“I simply can’t wait to drink out of it,” he stated, smiling as extensive as ever.

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