Xander Schauffele wins PGA with record under par in major history
American Xander Schauffele won the PGA Championship with a card of 65 strokes., the second major of the season, with the highest score in major history at 21 under par. The Olympic champion, winning his first major, made it happen with a birdie on the final hole from three meters to end the chances of fellow LIV Golf player Bryson DeChambeau, who after a card of 64 putts of seven birdies without an error left him at -20.
This is the eleventh victory for 30-year-old Schauffele., in his professional career. The San Diego player dominated the tournament all four days with his 62 on Thursday and only temporarily lost one hole on Saturday after a double bogey, but made up for it with back-to-back birdies. His victory also gives him second place in the world rankings, which drop Jon Rahm, who failed to qualify, to seventh place.
There was almost no wind and the greenery was still tender from the rain that had damaged Valhalla’s defenses for a week. On Sunday of the PGA Championship, one of the PGA Tour’s daily tournaments was offered as an outcome. It was a day to score very low. Like Schauffele on Thursday, like Lowry on Saturday, like Scotty Scheffler, world No. 1, did his farewell, finishing eighth after 65 strokes.
The result was later presented as a three-player game. With the winner as an undisputed asset. He did not give up all Sunday, despite two serious attacks from his pursuers. Especially DeChambeau, who on the fourth day, with no mistakes, was poised to pass Brooks Koepka, the 2023 winner and so far the only golfer to win a major as a member of the Rebel movement.
He also had the support of Viktor Hovland, a golfer who had reservations about not playing in a second major. because he was disappointed with his shot after shooting 81 on Friday at the Augusta Masters. Golf is a crazy game, but it’s also a mind game. And it saved the Norwegian, who needed just one pass through the pits in Las Vegas with Joe Mayo, his forger, to fine-tune it with Weltzeituhr precision.
Hovland stalked the champion on the 12th hole and kept the pace for another 20 minutes. But then he made only a par and was forced to birdie on the 18th, as DeChambeau did to force Schauffelle, he missed and ended up bogeying.
Xander, on the other hand, was an excellent opponent. His father, a former decathlete who was drunkenly knocked out of the Olympics, will be proud of his determination. He made seven birdies on the final day, his only bogey being the par 5 10th hole, where he bogeyed. But his reaction to this mistake was excellent: two birdies in a row. This is what sport is. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall if you manage to get back up.