Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. It must be a feeling that Xander Schauffele is all too familiar with when it comes to golf’s majors, but after Thursday, he may finally be walking down the aisle in Valhalla.
After so many agonizing near-misses on golf’s biggest stages, the world No. 3 opened his PGA Championship by sending a message, one that read: “I will not let another escape my clutches.”
Runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the Wells Fargo Championship, the 30-year-old overcame himself and continued his never-ending quest for a major, not only storming to the top of the standings, but doing so in record-breaking fashion with a start. round of nine under par 62.
Coming out early once the fog cleared over Louisville, Kentucky, Schauffele fired a challenging warning shot to the rest of the field with a birdie at the second. From there, he never looked back.
Hole after hole, Schauffele continued his relentless pursuit until he reached the turn at five under par and only extended his lead on the back nine, heading to the clubhouse with a total of nine birdies in a flawless round over the 7,506 rolling miles. . yards from Valhalla Golf Club.
Xander Schauffele celebrates on the 18th green after sealing his remarkable feat in Valhalla
Schauffele smiled, and rightly so, during the first round of the PGA Championship.
The American shot an eight-under 62 to break the course record at Valhalla on Thursday.
But it was not only perfect, it was historic.
His round of 62 was better than the course record set by José María Olazábal in the 2000 PGA Championship.
The lowest score relative to par in the first round of a PGA Championship is -8, scored by Michael Bradley (63) at Riviera CC in 1995.
Perhaps most impressively, Schauffele also became the first player to shoot 62 in a major since last year. The player who carded that 62? The same.
Only three players have shot 62 at a major championship, with South African Branden Grace becoming the first to do so at the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
Rickie Fowler became only the second man to do so at last year’s US Open at LACC, before Schauffele tied him minutes later on June 15.
“It’s a great start to a great tournament,” Schauffele said. Obviously I’m always going to choose one. It’s only Thursday.
In the clubhouse, with a two-stroke lead over first pursuers Tony Finau and Sahith Theegala, with a beleaguered Rory McIlroy and Scotland’s Robert McIntrye four behind, the only person who seemed capable of stopping Schauffele was the man of the moment , Scottie Scheffler. Or himself.
The only player potentially as inevitable as Schauffele is world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler hit his approach shot from 167 yards for an eagle on the par-four first.
Scheffler returned to the course with that sense of inevitability. He opened his round by holing his approach shot from 167 yards on the par-four first for an eagle two. A sure sign that not even the sleepless nights of new parenthood are going to put an end to the Scottie Show.
But it is himself that Schauffele must be careful of. He may have opened well, but he has a history of not closing.
“I think not winning makes you want to win more, as strange as that is,” Schauffele said. ‘For me, at least, I react to it, and I want it more and more, and it makes me want to work more and more and more.
‘The top feels very far away and I feel like I have a lot of work to do. But little by little we will remove it.
Last week, he opened with a 64 in the Wells Fargo Championship and took a one-stroke lead over McIlroy in the final round, but couldn’t hold on.
Schauffele became the first player to shoot 62 in a major championship since himself last year.
He took a one-stroke lead over McIlroy in the final round at Wells Fargo, but was unable to hold on.
Schauffele has also failed to win since back-to-back victories at the Travelers Championship and the Genesis Scottish Open in 2022. In that time, he has posted four runner-up finishes and 21 top-10 finishes.
Schauffele, who is contesting his 28th major championship this week, has the lowest first-round scoring average of all time in at least 25 appearances.
The Olympic gold medalist also has 12 top-10 finishes at major championships, second only to Fowler in the PGA Championship field this week.
Schauffele knows better than anyone that a good round doesn’t guarantee a big winner, but after opening in spectacular fashion, he hopes to finally be a closer.