Schauffele notches second major win of the year in Open Championship

by Liam Fitzgerald and Daniel Neuner

With a six-under Sunday round, Xander Schauffele, who had already won the PGA Championship in May, won the grueling annual Open Championship at nine under par.

This year’s Open Championship, or British Open, was played at Royal Troon in Scotland. Many believe that the tournament is always played at St. Andrew’s, but in reality the Open Championship rotates between 10 different courses in the British Isles.

Xander’s final round was like putting butter on a roll. He fired a six under round to win by two strokes. In second was Englishman Justin Rose at seven under. Another older player, Billy Horschel tied for second at seven under as well. The age and experience of the golfers at the top of the leaderboard in this tournament asks the question of whether the Open Championship is more a test of course management or golf IQ and experience.

As the course has so many slopes to play, so much wind to judge, and such firm greens, the players must take this all into consideration and the older players seem to have a good hold of these things.

The tough conditions of the course were too much to handle for many players, including several top-15 golfers in the world. Hideki Matsuyama (12th) and Brian Harman (15th) both finished in 60th place or lower with scores of +12 and +11, respectively.

“Yeah, I mean, I've become very patient not knocking off any wins in the last couple years. The people closest to me know how stubborn I can be. Winning—I said it earlier—is a result. This is awesome. It's super sweet. But when I break it down, I'm really proud of how I handled certain moments on the course today, different from the past,” said Schauffele after the final round.

The links style of the tournament usually allows for more of the European golfers to compete for a title. That was the case in the early rounds. After Thursday’s round, Englishman Daniel Brown and Irishman Shane Lowry led the field with scores of 65 and 66, respectively. But later, American Schauffele climbed to his second major of the year and those two Europeans finished outside the top five.

World number one Scottie Scheffler was as always expected to put on a show. However, the Masters champion didn’t shoot a single round in the sixties and had to settle for seventh place.

This was a historic year for Xander Schauffele, achieving a feat Scheffler couldn’t. Xander has had an excellent season, and this being the last major of the year means that after the Olympics players will only focus on the PGA Tour Championship. Having had such an electric season of clutch performances on the highest stages, Schauffele could very well be the favorite to win the Tour.