Schauffele holds off DeChambeau challenge to win first major at Valhalla
FIRST OF MANY? Xander Schauffele celebrates after winning the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Valhalla Golf Club. Pic: Jeff Roberson, AP
Newly minted world No. 2 Xander Schauffele can check major championship off his golf to-do list.
Schauffele started with a 62 and ended with a walk-off birdie in a wire-to-wire victory at Valhalla Golf Club that buried forever the narrative that he couldn’t win the big ones.
The Olympic gold medalist is now a major champion after shooting the all-time scoring record at 21-under par to win the 106th PGA Championship.
A week after getting run over by Rory McIlroy on Sunday at Quail Hollow to reinforce questions about Schauffele’s ability to close out big tournaments, he shut up any detractors with a brilliant birdie on the par-5 18th hole, pouring in a nervy 6-footer to seal the deal by a stroke over Bryson DeChambeau.
“I knew I had to birdie the last hole, looking up at the board,” he said. “I was trying to squeak a birdie in there somehow (earlier) just to have some kind of cushion. It was a hectic birdie, as well, but it was awesome. I kept telling myself, I need to earn this, I need to prove this to myself, and this is my time.”
Schauffele is the first player to birdie the 72nd hole to win the PGA Championship by a stroke since Phil Mickelson in 2005 at Baltusrol.
Before that, Payne Stewart did it in 1989 at Kemper Lakes. His 21-under total broke the scoring record in all majors of 20-under shared by Jason Day at the 2015 PGA (Whistling Straits) and Dustin Johnson in the November 2020 Masters.
It was a climactic moment at a venue that always delivers the drama. In a stellar final-round shootout in which five golfers were within a shot of the lead at some point on the front nine, Schauffele, DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland separated themselves in a mad race for the Wanamaker Trophy.
DeChambeau and Hovland each had 10-footers on the last for birdie to gain a share at 20-under with Schauffele a hole behind them. DeChambeau made and Hovland missed, setting the stage for Schaffele on the par-5 finisher.
Schauffele – who bounced back from briefly ceding the lead to Hovland with a bogey on 10 with a pair of birdies on 11 and 12 – knew exactly what he needed to do.
“I stayed very patient. I was looking up at the board. There's been times where I tried to look away from it until the back nine, but today I was looking at it,” he said of the moment he was determined to seize.
“I just wanted to be aware of everything. I wanted to know exactly where I stood. I wanted to know … address my feelings when they were happening.”
DeChambeau put up a helluva fight shooting a bogey-free 7-under 64 on Sunday, including a clutch birdie on the last when his putt barely covered the 10 feet, 9 inches and tumbled over the lip to reach 20-under and put the pressure on Schauffele to make birdie to avoid a three-hole playoff. It was the first moment all week that the 2020 U.S. Open champion had grabbed a piece of the lead.
DeChambeau, who plays for LIV Golf, came off the practice range to congratulate Schauffele at 18.
“First emotions, proud of Xander for finally getting the job done,” DeChambeau said. “I mean, he's an amazing golfer and well deserved major champion now. He's played well for a long, long time.
“On my side of the coin, disappointing, but, whatever. I played well. Didn't strike it my best all week. Felt like I had my ‘B’ game pretty much. My putting was A+, my wedging was A+, short game was A+, driving was like B. You know, shot 20-under par in a major championship. Proud of myself for the way I handled adversity. Definitely disappointing, but one that gives me a lot of momentum for the rest of the majors. I said today it was closing time, but it will be closing time hopefully over the next couple majors.”
Hovland, a runner-up last year to Brooks Koepka at Oak Hill, hadn’t made a bogey since the 12th hole on Friday when he came to the last needing a birdie to shoot his own 64 and catch Schauffele.
He had a chance from 10 feet to join DeChambeau at 20-under, but he three-putted instead for bogey to finish third at 18-under.
Hovland declined to talk after the finish.
Collin Morikawa started Sunday tied for the lead but couldn’t buy a birdie until the last hole, shooting even-par 71 and tying for fourth with Belgium’s Thomas Detry.
“Obviously the putter went cold on me,” Morikawa said. “The putter kept me in this tournament, and it just disappeared today.”
Ireland’s Shane Lowry had a good chance after matching Schauffele with a 62 of his own on Saturday, and he got within a shot of the lead with birdies on 3 and 4. But he couldn’t keep pace with Sunday’s torrid scoring and settled for a share of sixth with Justin Rose.
“I wanted it so much for everyone, like my dad here and how much he loves it,” Lowry said. “I only want it so much because I know it feels like and I want to taste it again. It's something that my family, my friends, my wife and my kids, I just want to be able to be able to celebrate good times with them.
“I don't want it to be all doom and gloom. It's not a doom and gloom week by no means. I’ll go back and I’ll dust myself off. I've got a couple of tournaments between now and Pinehurst to get ready for that.”
Schauffele, who had 12 top 10s and seven top-fives in 27 career majors before this week, left Valahalla satisfied that he’s buried any demons that may have haunted him in two winless years since the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open.
“I've become very patient not knocking off any wins in the last couple years,” he said. “The people closest to me know how stubborn I can be. Winning, I said it earlier, 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.”
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