Schauffele rides strong finish to win Open Championship
Xander Schauffele shot a sterling 65 at Royal Troon to emerge from the pack and win the 152nd Open Championship for his second major title of the year Sunday in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland.
Schauffele saved his best golf of the week for last, as he rode a bogey-free round to a final score of 9-under-par 275 and a two-shot victory over Justin Rose and Billy Horschel. Schauffele’s win completed the first American sweep of the four majors since 1982, after Scottie Scheffler won the Masters and Bryson DeChambeau took home the U.S. Open.
ADVERTISING
“I feel very honored,” Schauffele, 30, said at the trophy presentation. “Hearing your name called with ‘Open champion’ right after is something I’ve dreamt of for a very long time.”
Schauffele, who captured his first career major at the PGA Championship in May, is the first player since Brooks Koepka (2018) to win multiple majors in a calendar year. A reporter asked Schauffele if he believes he has cemented himself as one of the best players of his generation.
“Pretty much that’s you guys’ job to speculate on those things,” the even-tempered San Diego native said. “I’m just trying to win as many of these things as I can and play the best golf as I can and be a decent guy. So I’ll let you ponder that one.”
Schauffele was one of six players who began Sunday one shot behind 54-hole leader Horschel. He surged into the lead down the home stretch, making four of his six birdies on the back nine.
“I think winning the first (major) helped me a lot today on the back nine,” Schauffele said. “I had some feeling of calmness come through. It was very helpful on what has been one of the hardest back nines I’ve ever played in a tournament.”
Thriston Lawrence of South Africa (68) placed fourth at 6 under after taking the lead into the back nine. Russell Henley (69) was fifth at 5 under and Irishman Shane Lowry (68) took sixth at 4 under after losing the lead Saturday.
Playing in the final pairing with Horschel, Lawrence grabbed a one-stroke lead at the turn by making his fourth birdie of the day at the par-4 ninth.
The lead flipped after Lawrence badly missed the green at No. 12. He failed to save par, and just up ahead, Schauffele played No. 13 perfectly, rolling in a left-to-right birdie putt from 16 feet.
Schauffele proceeded to knock a 6-iron at the par-4 13th to 12 1/2 feet and convert another birdie to double his advantage. At the par-5 16th, he played a delicate pitch shot over a greenside pot bunker that teased the cup before leaving him a 4-foot birdie putt.
“(The shot) was scary because it wasn’t neutral,” Schauffele said. “The grass was actually growing in. So I just tried to treat it like I was in Florida and go down and get the ball there. Something moving there, I figured I’d try to learn something off some grain. I know fescue isn’t grain, but you can kind of play some of the shots similar.”
Rose missed some chances to keep up with Schauffele, his playing partner. He settled for a 67 after birdieing two of the final three holes. Upon sinking a 15-foot birdie putt at No. 18, the Englishman saluted the crowd after his second career runner-up finish at The Open.
“That’s the deal I made with myself today, to come off with no regrets,” said Rose, who earned his way into the field via final qualifying. “Obviously, yeah, I’ll have a few more chances, of course, but you know that this is a great opportunity today. You want to walk off the golf course going, ‘Yeah, I didn’t squander that.’
“I ran putts at the hole today. I feel like I had opportunities. I felt like I took a lot of them. But I felt super comfortable out there, which the fact that I haven’t really been in contention much this year, that gives me a lot of heart.”
Horschel was in neutral for most of the day before running off three consecutive birdies at Nos. 16-18 to shoot a 68.
“I’m disappointed. I should feel disappointed,” Horschel said. “I had a chance to win a major. I was in a really good position. I just didn’t play — I just made a few too many mistakes today when I didn’t need to. But we’ll look back on this in an hour, I’ll be very happy with how I played, I’ll be very happy with what I did this week.”
Lawrence, a four-time DP World Tour winner ranked 98th in the world entering the week, was vying for an unlikely first major title. He had never finished better than tied for 42nd at any major. He made eight pars and the pivotal bogey at No. 12 on his back nine.
“It’s like any other tournament. Once you’re in the lead, you always think about winning,” Lawrence said. “But teeing up today, that was my mindset, going out there to try and win. So being in the lead or being one or two shots back doesn’t change the mindset or game plan or anything.”
