PGA Championship: How Xander Schauffele silenced critics with historic main victory at Valhalla | Golf Information

Xander Schauffele admitted he used criticism over his profitable mentality as gasoline to finish his run of near-misses and declare a maiden main win, in record-breaking vogue, on the PGA Championship.

Schauffele produced a superb up-and-down birdie on the ultimate gap to earn a one-shot victory over Bryson DeChambeau at Valhalla, the place he completed on 21 underneath to finish a wire-to-wire win and register the bottom rating in relation to par in main championship historical past.

The Olympic gold medallist turns into the fifth consecutive American males’s main champion and jumps him above Rory McIlroy to second within the newest world rankings, with the win additionally silencing those that questioned his means to shut out tournaments.

Schauffele had 12 earlier main top-10s with out profitable and had turned simply two of his eight 54-hole leads or co-leads on the PGA Tour into victory earlier than Sunday, the place he claimed an eighth PGA Tour title and first since July 2022.

Talking about how he used negativity round his earlier near-misses, Schauffele mentioned. “Undoubtedly a chip on the shoulder there. It simply is what it’s on the finish of the day. You guys are asking the questions, probing, and I’ve to take a seat right here and reply it.

“It’s a lot easier to answer it with this thing [Wanamaker Trophy] sitting next to me now, obviously. It’s just fuel, fuel to my fire. It always has been growing up, and it certainly was leading up to this.”

Schauffele had been overhauled by Scottie Scheffler within the closing spherical of The Gamers in March and got here second in a final-round battle with McIlroy on the Wells Fargo Championship the week earlier than the PGA Championship, though he at all times felt a win was shut.

“It [Quail Hollow] was some of the best ball-striking I’ve had in quite some time, shaping it right to left, left to right,” Schauffele mentioned. “I knew that at this course [Valhalla], you had to do those things. It calmed me a little bit knowing I’m coming into a major in good form.

“All these shut requires me, even final week, that kind of feeling, it will get to you sooner or later. It simply makes this even sweeter. I do know it is a main, however simply profitable typically is as candy because it will get for me.”

A record-breaking week for Schauffele

Schauffele ripped up the document books all through a low-scoring week in Kentucky, equalling the bottom spherical in males’s main historical past by carding the primary 62 at a PGA Championship on the opening day.

The quick begin made him the primary participant to card a number of main 62s of their profession, following on from posting the identical rating through the opening spherical of the US Open the earlier 12 months, with a three-under 68 on Friday then equalling the bottom 36-hole complete in a males’s main.

A birdie-birdie end to a third-round 68 ensured Schauffele retained a share of the lead, on a day the place Shane Lowry matched his 62 from the opening day, earlier than extra information had been damaged throughout a dramatic closing spherical.

DeChambeau had set the clubhouse goal after a surprising final-round 64, equalling the bottom rating in relation to par in males’s main historical past, just for Schauffele to set a brand new main championship scoring document by ending the week on 21 underneath.

“I told Austin [Kaiser, caddie] when we turned, if I could get to 22 [under], I think someone is going to have to beat me,” Schauffele mentioned. “I really did not want to go into a play-off with Bryson. Going up 18 with his length, it’s not something that I was going to have a whole lot of fun with!

“Simply needed to take what the course was going to offer me. Simply attending to 21 simply needed to be achieved, and for it to be part of historical past is clearly fairly cool.”

The place had Schauffele gained earlier than?

Schauffele claimed his maiden PGA Tour title on the 2017 Greenbrier Basic forward of securing the season-ending Tour Championship later that 12 months, then ended a 13-month winless run by beating Tony Finau in a play-off to win the 2018 WGC-HSBC Champions.

He gained the Sentry Event of Champions the next January however would not win once more on the PGA Tour till partnering Patrick Cantlay to victory on the Zurich Basic of New Orleans in April 2022, though he featured in profitable Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup groups throughout that winless stretch and claimed gold within the Tokyo Olympics.

A 3-week interval in 2022 noticed Schauffele style victory within the Vacationers Championship in the USA, win a star-studded JP McManus Professional-Am in Eire and register a one-shot success on the Genesis Scottish Open, though he hadn’t gained once more since till his main triumph.

“I’ve become very patient not knocking off any wins in the last couple years,” Schauffele defined. “The people closest to me know how stubborn I can be. Winning 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.”

Can Schauffele catch Scheffler?

Schauffele is predicted to take two weeks off earlier than returning at The Memorial Event from June 6-9, the newest of the PGA Tour’s Signature Occasions, earlier than being among the many favourites when the US Open heads to Pinehurst the next week.

The 30-year-old has completed no worse than 14th in all seven earlier US Open appearances, with Schauffele additionally having appearances on the Vacationers Championship and Genesis Scottish Open – the place he has gained earlier than – forward of The Open at Royal Troon in July.

The potential for an enormous summer time continues when he returns defend his Olympic title in Paris, 4 years on from his victory in Tokyo, with Schauffele decided to construct on his main breakthrough and problem Scheffler on the high of the boys’s sport.

“All of us are climbing this massive mountain,” Schauffele defined. “At the top of the mountain is Scottie Scheffler. I won this, but I’m still not that close to Scottie Scheffler in the big scheme of things.

“I bought one good hook up there within the mountain up on that cliff, and I am nonetheless climbing. I might need a beer up there on that facet of the hill there and revel in this, but it surely’s not that onerous to chase when somebody is to this point forward of you.”

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