‘It’s the best round I’ve played’: Open champ Xander Schauffele reflects on dream finish at Royal Troon – Australian Golf Digest

by Admin
July 24, 2024

[PHOTO: Getty Images]

I decided to take golf seriously when I was about 13 years old. And when I was maybe 15 or 16, I sat down with my dad and we started to hash out some goals and dreams of what I’d like to do in the sport. During those times, I was on the couch with my dad a lot, watching other guys win majors and win big tournaments. My dad and I, we’ve definitely talked about winning The Open Championship and we’ve watched that walk up the 18^th hole pretty much every year until I played in my first Open in 2017. It’s definitely something that we’ve both dreamt of.

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The walk up 18 on Sunday truly is the coolest, with the yellow leaderboards and the fans and the standing ovation that the champion receives. It really is one of the coolest feelings I’ve ever had in my life. I got chills walking down and quickly had to zap myself back into focus because the tournament wasn’t over yet.

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I made sure I walked up the final green with Austin (Kaiser, his caddie) by my side. He’s one of my best friends, and it’s a team thing. I’m the one hitting the shots, but at the end of the day, it’s a team thing. It’s a team environment that I like to have for my team. I was marching, and I was just trying to focus. In my head, I was like, you’re about to have your moment here and no one better to share it than Austin because he deserves it as well.

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I feel very honoured. Hearing your name called with “Open Champion” right after is something I’ve dreamt of for a very long time. I feel speechless just looking at the Claret Jug and if I sat in a room by myself with it, I would just stare at it and gaze, and really try to take it all in. It’s all part of the process and it is an incredible feeling.

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At the end of the day, it is just a result, and I really do believe that. Sometimes things go your way, and sometimes they don’t. In the final round at Troon, I felt like I really controlled a lot of it. I kind of grabbed onto the lead, and there was no chance I was going to let go of it. I was aware of that and really wanted to make sure I did that. For the most part, all those tough losses in the past or those moments where I let myself slip up and dream too early on that back nine, I was able to reel myself in and make sure that didn’t happen.

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It was a hard week, it was very difficult. I think winning the PGA Championship helped me a lot. I had some feeling of calmness come through. It was very helpful on what has been one of the hardest back nines I’ve ever played in a tournament. It’s amazing to win two majors in one year. It took me forever just to win one, and to have two now is something else.

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I’ve talked about my first time playing any sort of links style golf was when I was at Bandon Dunes, and I immediately loved it then. I’m a competitor and I like to challenge myself. If you tell me I can’t do something, I’m going to try and do it. It’s a cool thing for me and my team to win this tournament. This final round 65 ranks at the very tip top. It’s the best round I’ve played. There’s calmness and 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. I felt like I did a pretty good job of weathering the storm when I needed to.

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I must thank the fans as well. I’ve been in Scotland for two weeks, playing in the Genesis Scottish Open before arriving for The Open and they have made it feel like a second home for me, and I can’t wait to come back. I think it’s essential to be in this part of the world before The Open. Just the time zone itself is a big thing to overcome. Then when you move along to the fescue and the deep bunkers and the finer sand, and then you talk about the wind, and then the greens being slower, literally everything is completely different than what we do over in the States.

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If you give yourself an extra week to try and acclimate, I think it’s a no-brainer. To me, winning the Scottish Open in 2022 was big because it meant my game could travel. So to double that up and win a major in Scotland is even cooler. In the end, it makes it feel like it’s all worth it and I’m glad to be able to celebrate with my entire family as my wife’s here, both my parents, my brother and my uncle.

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It’ll be a short break for me now to recharge my batteries and I’m looking forward to the Paris Olympic Games next with the aim of winning another gold medal.

[Xander Schauffele claimed his second major title of the year when he won The Open Championship at Royal Troon by two strokes on Sunday. The 30-year-old, who triumphed at the PGA Championship in May, closed with a stellar 65 to earn his ninth PGA TOUR title, and reinforced himself as one of the favourites for the gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games next week where he had won the gold in Tokyo. This is his blog from Scotland.]

• Fans can watch Xander Schauffele and the PGA TOUR on Kayo.