It has been a pretty good week for Xander Schauffele.
On Tuesday, the 28-year-old captured the JP McManus Pro-Am in Ireland. Come Sunday, it was his turn to hoist yet another trophy.
Schauffele played brilliantly on the back nine at The Renaissance Club to capture the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open at 7-under 273. He shot an even-par 70 during the final round to top Kurt Kitayama by one shot and J.H. Kim by two for his seventh career PGA Tour title.
“Not going to put makeup on the pig here… it was a very average day,” Schauffele said after the final round. “Probably my worst this week. (My caddie) Austin (Kaiser) kept me calm. Yesterday I told you, as boring as it is, you really can’t get ahead of yourself in links golf. I was ahead, I was behind, I was ahead, I was behind. Just kept my head down.”
Schauffele trailed by 11 strokes after the first round.
It’s also Schauffele’s second straight professional win after he claimed the Travelers Championship two weeks ago in Connecticut. He’s the first golfer to win consecutive starts on the PGA Tour since Scottie Scheffler won the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and the Masters. Not only that, he joins Scheffler and Sam Burns as the only players with three or more wins this season.
“It’s been incredible,” Schauffele said. “The Travelers and this one were very different but equally as rewarding in their own ways.”
Schauffele started hot, birdieing his first two holes to cruise to a four-shot advantage. The first sign of struggle came on the par-3 sixth, when his tee shot drifted left into a bunker. His second shot rolled off the other side of the green into another bunker, but he was able to get up and down for bogey. He proceeded to bogey Nos. 7 and 9 to make the turn in 1-over 36.
He didn’t take advantage of the par-5 10th, but that didn’t faze Schauffele. He made birdies on No. 14 and 16 to pull back away from the field. A pivotal seven-foot par putt on the par-3 17th helped maintain a two-shot advantage heading to the 18th.
The par-4 finishing hole played as the most difficult all week, but Schauffele’s bogey on the last wasn’t punishing. He hit an iron off the tee and was just off the green left with his approach, but his par putt didn’t fall.
“I was telling myself that, it doesn’t really have to be pretty,” Schauffele said. “It wasn’t very pretty, unfortunately, but I got the ball in the hole and one better than everyone else.”
Kitayama, who finished runner-up for the second time this season, also earned an invitation into the Open Championship next week at St. Andrews with his finish. Brandon Wu and Jamie Donaldson also earned invitations via the Open Qualification Series, which invites the three top players on the leaderboard not already exempt.
“Yeah, it’s really exciting,” Kitayama said. “There’s been a lot of talk about it being the 150th at St Andrews, so it’s going to be really cool. I’ve actually never played there.”
Now, Schauffele, searching for his first major championship title, heads to St. Andrews for the Open as one of the hottest golfers in the world.
“I’m obviously in good form and am going to try to carry that into next week,” Schauffele said.
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Spanish