Neither a mad scientist nor the monkey on his back could stop Xander Schauffele from taking the toughest step in golf on Saturday night. After all those near misses, he’s finally a great champion.
He had finished in the top 10 in one of his sport’s big four on no fewer than 12 occasions, so it’s fitting that he narrowly won the 106th US PGA Championship in the Derby’s hometown of Kentucky.
And what a race it was, so we must give credit to crazy maverick Bryson DeChambeau, who tore up Valhalla with irons produced by his 3D printer. At 20 under par he had equaled the lowest score in the history of the Majors, but that was a status he maintained for just half an hour, because Schauffele arrived. With a six-foot birdie putt on the last, he won in one stroke.
It had been exactly a week since he gave Rory McIlroy a good lead on the final day at Quail Hollow, which came with all the reminders that he hadn’t won on the PGA Tour in almost two years. Look at them seven days later: McIlroy came in through the back door in 12th place, Schauffele entered the champions’ circle.
With both clenched fists and tears in his eyes, he had stopped those annoying conversations about the best players who never claimed a big pot. Given the overall strength of his game, the 30-year-old would also be a solid candidate to move on and take more – he doesn’t look like a one-hit wonder.
Xander Schauffele wins the PGA Championship after beating Bryson DeChambeau
Schauffele holed a six-foot putt on the 18th green to secure victory at the PGA Championship
Bryson DeChambeau birdied the 18th hole to take over the lead at 20-under par.
Schauffele hugged Austin Kaiser, his caddy and former teammate at San Diego State
But he had to work hard in his last 65. It only involved a bogey on the 10th, but the challenge was found in the quality of those chasing him. We must mention Viktor Hovland first, because a couple of weeks ago he wasn’t sure if he would compete, such was the state of his game, but he was quickly reunited with Joe Mayo, the coach he fired at the end of last year and his resurgence here It was remarkable.
A triple putt on the last ended his chances with a 66, or 19 under par, and he finished three behind Schauffele and one ahead of Belgians Thomas Detry and Collin Morikawa, who started in the final pair and stalled with a 71. Justin Rose and Shane Lowry tied at 14 under after an excellent week, with Scottie Scheffler one step further down alongside Bob MacIntyre. In Scheffler’s context, he says quite the fact that he can visit a cell and still tie for eighth place.
The surprising number of players with double figures under par (a record 25) speaks to the easy conditions, but also to the heat of the competition, because clearly anyone could come out on top.
In the end, DeChambeau nearly forced a playoff, but needing a birdie on the last, Schauffele went up and down from 36 yards, sealing the victory with a six-footer that caught the rim and fell. In technical terms, that final drama was indicative of his day, because his driving, so brilliant all week, was relaxed with so much at stake and he only hit six of 14 fairways. In other words, he needed to dig in and fight and he did exceptionally well, whether for par or better, including the up-and-down birdie from the dense rough greenside on the drivable par-four fourth hole.
As always, the drama didn’t begin in earnest until the final nine minutes. By then it was a three-horse race and had been led almost exclusively by Schauffele, as had the entire tournament. Except for his starting position of 15 under par with Morikawa, and a brief moment when Sahith Theegala birdied the opening hole, he was out of play until the 10th hole, although never by more than two.
Rounding the bend at 31 and 19 under, Schauffele stepped onto that tee one ahead of Hovland and two ahead of DeChambeau. That’s when he finally hit a bump, the source of his difficulty coming from trying to hit the par five in two from the fairway bunker. His club? A three-wood: It was golf, but not as most of us know it.
Unfortunately, that was a misadventure that led to dense roughing on the green, an overshot, an underchip, and ultimately a bogey six.
The blow escalated quickly: Hovland, two groups ahead, had already birdied 12 and then hit a 15-foot bomb on 13 to tie Schauffele for the first time all day at 19 under. The Norwegian had a hot putter in his hand: Would Schauffele have the courage to fight?
His response was typical of champions and he made consecutive birdies to take the lead again, but that was when DeChambeau’s challenge accelerated. Golf’s most unusual thinker would reach 19 under par and just one behind Schauffele after outrageous good luck with a 16.
His carabiner off the tee had hit the trees but bounced into the fairway, preceding the 30-year-old hitting an eight-iron to a monstrous distance of 219 yards to three feet. Birdie picked up, he was in the same boat as Hovland in needing at least one more birdie.
Playing the par-five 18th, DeChambeau holed a 10-footer to do just that and erupted into a flurry of aerial shots after his 64. A moment later, Hovland, from a similar distance, three-putted and deserved better than a first bogey. and a 66.
He passed Schauffele, who was once again tied for the lead and had found a horrible spot in a fairway bunker with his drive on 17. He was now playing with his own demons and after stoking his recovery to the right of the green, he jumped to three feet to save par. The equation from then on was simple and also complicated: he birdied the last one and he was champion.
He went the hard way, with a drive that came within a foot of the fairway bunker. That left the ball above his feet, which were planted in the trap, and his approach came up short of the green, 36 yards from the flag. The shot left a six-foot putt for all the marbles: he nailed it.
