Analysis

Xander Schauffele: Is The Open champion set to take Tiger Woods' mantle as golf's next great?

Asked about possibly joining Tiger Woods in becoming just the sixth player to claim a career Grand Slam, Xander Schauffele said: "It's something I've always wanted. I'm one step closer and still have a long way to go. But if you don't see yourself doing it, you're never going to do it"

Xander Schauffele clinched a second major win courtesy of a stunning final-round 65 at Royal Troon

Monday 22 July 2024 19:54, UK

With Tiger Woods missing the cut for a third straight major, golf is currently sizing up the contenders capable of taking on his two-decade-long mantle as the game's dominant force.

Many have flirted with claiming the crown over the course of Woods' run at the top, with Phil Mickelson perhaps his greatest adversary when claiming six majors to Wood's 15.

There's been young Rory McIlroy's rapid run to four before badly stalling over the past decade, while Jordan Spieth followed his three wins in the mid-2010s with a similarly prolonged drought.

Brooks Koepka has five to his name, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm two, all having also had sustained spells as world No 1… but the trio all now plough a path at LIV Golf.

Collin Morikawa appeared to be Woods' heir apparent when winning both the PGA Championship and The Open in 2020 and 2021, respectively, both on debut, while Scottie Scheffler's dominance on the PGA Tour the last two years has been extraordinary.

Along with two Masters wins under his belt, and back-to-back Players Championships, Scheffler has already won six times on tour this year - just the fourth player to hit that mark in a season and the first since Woods in 2009.

Anyway, to get to the point; as great as all of the above golfers are, and how much they go to show that the future of the game is in great shape, with or without Woods, perhaps the greatest claimant to his throne is precisely the man who won so impressively around Royal Troon this week.

Schauffele produced some truly exceptional golf over the week, but particularly on the final Sunday as, following back-to-back birdies on the sixth and seventh holes, he raced clear of the field with four more in a six-hole stretch down the back nine.

The 30-year-old has long been one of the game's top players, winning nine times on the PGA Tour, while he also claimed gold at the Covid-delayed Olympic Games in Japan three years ago, but success at the majors - until this year - had proved elusive.

Schauffele was long considered golf's 'nearly man', with 12 top-10 finishes to his name at majors, six of those being top fives and two tied second.

But the 2024 Schauffele hits different, especially after holding off the surging Bryson DeChambeau - (just ask McIlroy how challenging that is) - to clinch a first major triumph at the PGA Championship in May.

Needing a birdie at the par-five 18th to win at Valhalla and avoid a play-off, Schauffele holed from six feet to finish with a score of 21 under - the lowest 72-hole score in men's major history.

"The reason he won this is because he holed that putt at Valhalla," Sky Sports' Dame Laura Davies said after Schauffele's second major win, two months on the back of his first.

"And the reason he won Valhalla was because he was more aggressive on the Sunday. He always seemed like the guy that was happy to just have a good tournament, rather than go out and win it.

"If he hadn't won at Valhalla, he'd still be in that situation of having never won a major despite being one of the best players in the world.

"That has released all the pressure. He's up to No 2 in the world now... we're going to see more and more of him."

Schauffele, himself, referenced his new-found confidence and calmness down the stretch at Royal Troon as being crucial to his final-day triumph.

"Winning the first one helped me a lot today on the back nine," he said. "I had some feeling of calmness come through and that was very helpful on what has been one of the hardest back nines I've ever played in a tournament."

He added: "There's super stressful moments when you're trying to win a major championship. I felt them in the past, the ones I didn't win, and I let them get to me.

"Today I felt like I did a pretty good job of weathering the storm when I needed to."

Schauffele eyes Grand Slam: 'I'm one step closer'

And Schauffele's not done there. The target previously fixated solely on that first but the number he now has in mind is four, minimum.

Asked if he'd thought about completing the career Grand Slam, becoming just the sixth in history to do so after Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and that man Woods, Schauffele boldly said: "It's something I've always wanted.

"I'm one step closer and still have a long way to go. But if you don't see yourself doing it, you're never going to do it."

And he's certainly got the game to do it.

What was most evident in Schauffele's win round Royal Troon was his consistency on a golf course and in conditions that accounted for so many of the world's best.

It has been a hallmark of his career. This is not a golfer equipped only for the blue skies and more inviting parkland courses of the PGA Tour. This is one capable of competing whatever the weather (literally).

Serving as proof: since starting with a tied-fifth showing on his US Open debut in 2017, Schauffele has missed only three cuts in 30 major appearances, while 2022 was the only year he failed to make top-10 in any golf's four biggest tournaments - albeit, only just with tied-13th, 14th and 15th placings coming at the PGA Championship, US Open and The Open, respectively, that year.

This is also someone who has twice shot the record-equalling low round of 62 in men's major championships, firstly at the 2023 US Open before then repeating the trick on his way to victory at Valhalla earlier this year.

Sky Sports' Andrew Coltart said: "Valhalla changed the amount of belief he had. He had been knocking on the door so many times... we wondered whether he had it in him to make that next step up

"To continue to deal with what was thrown at him at the PGA Championship, to shoot that 62 again at a major championship... that stuff eventually starts to permeate through to the brain that 'I'm pretty good at this'.

"Schauffele's game doesn't have a weakness but it's also his mentality.

"The ability to come from America where it's pretty much one-dimensional golf all the time, they don't have to deal with testing conditions or with tough bounces, the wrong side of the draw...

"He's come over here and he's handled everything that the Royal Troon has thrown at him. It's that ability and belief that has made him almost impenetrable."

And that's the key. Schauffele has always had the ability, but couple that now with the belief he has after finally breaking that major duck at Valhalla, is it he who is the heir to Tiger's throne at the top of the game?

His Royal Troon Triumph takes him to No 2 in the world, albeit with the rather sizable spectre of Scheffler at No 1, whose own dominance in the game at the moment should certainly not be overlooked.

But Schauffele is up for the challenge. "The fire is still burning," he said after securing his second major. "Maybe brighter than ever."

What's next?

The PGA Tour heads to Minnesota for the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities, with live coverage on Thursday from 6pm on Sky Sports Golf. The next regular DP World Tour event is the D+D Real Czech Masters from August 15-18. Stream the PGA Tour, majors and more top sport with NOW.

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