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It's amazing how quickly the narrative can change around a player in golf. Entering the calendar year of 2024, the main question surrounding frequent major contender Xander Schauffele was, "Will he ever win the big one?" Seems silly in retrospect, considering Xander has established himself as a stone-cold major championship Sunday killer.
Thirteen birdies against one bogey in the last rounds of his victories at the PGA Championship and in The Open Championship at Royal Troon. Is that any good?
https://twitter.com/TheOpen/status/1815076394407231629
https://twitter.com/TheOpen/status/1815082709162590585
Daniel Brown was a fun,
fleeting Cinderella story. Would've been nice to see Justin Rose break through for a long-awaited second major dub. Billy Horschel held the 54-hole lead and played pretty solid golf all afternoon long.
Problem was, Xander was just flat-out better than them and everyone else in the field, slamming the door with a bogey-free 6-under round of 65, matching the last-day number of his
win at Valhalla.
You could argue that Xander kind of spoiled the back nine by eliminating a lot of the suspense down the stretch. For me, it's always awesome to see a guy take names and kick rears to make more than a little bit of history. Although Xander probably needs to defend his gold medal at the Olympics and maybe win the FedEx Cup title to stake a claim for one of the greatest seasons of all-time, he's in rarefied air already. Justin Ray, take it away!
https://twitter.com/JustinRayGolf/status/1815073519220232376
https://twitter.com/JustinRayGolf/status/1815077661288304693
https://twitter.com/JustinRayGolf/status/1815081169211318334
When your second major of the year and ability to close like a champ is mentioned in the same breath as Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagen, you might be decent at golf. Look at that company. Jack: 18 major wins. Tiger: 15. Hagen: 11. That's right. The three men with the most majors.
Those of us
world-weary Rory McIlroy fans can take some solace in how Xander's career has developed of late. Double-digit top-10 finishes in majors, and all of a sudden, the floodgates have opened for him.
PS, how about America, baby! We're holding all four majors now!
https://twitter.com/TheOpen/status/1815082709162590585
Can the boys carry some of that over to the 2025 Ryder Cup? Let's hope so.
Circling back to all-time great seasons, Scottie Scheffler was on course for one of those if he could've won at Troon. Alas, his putter failed him again on an ugly three-putt double bogey to knock him out of contention.
https://twitter.com/NoLayingUp/status/1815037914205610236
The Player of the Year race is going to be barn burner between Xander and Scottie.
https://twitter.com/nosmh_x/status/1815060983649271926
You have to wonder how things might've been different had Scottie not gone and
gotten himself arrested at the PGA. Anyway, congrats to Xander. What a beast.
https://twitter.com/JakeAndBall/status/1815059387594965406
