LOUISVILLE, KY. The tagline best player never to win a major is a compliment wrapped around a slap in the face. There’s an acknowledgement you merit mention because of a high skillset.
On the flip side, there’s a painful correlation that despite such talent you’ve not been able to break through and finally earn the ultimate payoff.
Xander Schauffele started this year’s PGA Championship in superb fashion. A no-bogey round with nine birdies and tying the record for the lowest scoring round for 18 holes in a major with a 62 and the lowest ever scored in the PGA Championship.
Schauffele hit 12 out of 14 fairways, reached in the regulation stroke 14 of 18 greens and had just 24 putts.
Keep in mind, Schauffele did similarly during the first round at last year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles CC when he scored 62 along with Rickie Fowler during that first round too.
Unfortunately, the first round at LACC was the highlight of the week and Schauffele eventually finished T10.
Xander is looking to make sure what happened last year does not resurface this week at Valhalla.
Interestingly, only Fowler has more top tens in majors (13) than Schauffele (12). In addition, Xander has ten top ten finishes this year with no wins.
For Schauffele a return to the winner’s circle is long overdue. His last triumph came at the 2022 Scottish Open. At last week’s Wells Fargo event he looked to be heading for victory until Rory McIlroy unleashed a barrage of birdies and eagles starting at the 8th hole during the final round and won by five.
Schauffele is well aware one does not win any tournaments with first round play. Finishing off events and getting to the winner’s circle takes 72 holes.
“Yeah, I think not winning makes you want to win more, as weird as that is. For me, at least, I react to it, and I want it more and more and more, and it makes me want to work harder and harder and harder. The top feels far away, and I feel like I have a lot of work to do. But just slowly chipping away at it.”
Xander’s presence on major championship leaderboards has been a constant item. At this year’s Masters he finished 8th. In 2023 he was in the top ten in two of them (Masters and U.S. Open) and the top 20 in the other two (The Open, PGA Championship).
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Scoring achievements in major championships |
| The lowest score relative to par in the first round of a major is -9, by Rory McIlroy (63) at the 2010 Open Championship at St. Andrews; and Greg Norman (63) at the 1996 Masters. Schauffele’s -9 in the first round of this year’s PGA Championship matched that.
The lowest raw score in the first round of a major is 62, by both Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler at least year’s U.S. Open at L.A.C.C. Schauffele is the only player to have shot 62 twice. Prior to Schauffele’s 62 (-9) score, the lowest score relative to par in the first round of a PGA Championship was -8, by Michael Bradley (63) at Riviera CC in 1995. The lowest raw score, prior to Schauffele’s 62 today in the first round of a PGA Championship was 63, by Bradley in 1995, Raymond Floyd in 1982 (Southern Hills, -7), Steve Stricker in 2011 (Atlanta A.C, -7), Brooks Koepka in 2019 (Bethpage, -7). |
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Xander’s play has been at a consistent high level for the 2023 season and he stated his game is producing the kind of consistency that keeps one near the top of a leaderboard.
“I’d say it’s very close to it. I feel there’s spurts, moments in time where you feel like you can control the ball really well. you’re seeing the greens really well; you’re chipping really well. But over a prolonged period, it’s tough to upkeep high performance.”
All of the elite players realize major championships are the pinnacle achievement in golf. It is those four specific events that determine legacy and how one is perceived by one’s peers.
Related: Behind the Architectural Curtain – 106th PGA Championship Pt.1
Failure in such events can be an ongoing mental pressure cooker. For Schauffele it is that specific issue that remains to be solved this week at Valhalla. Candidly, no one would want to have a trivia question asked on who is the only player to have scored 62 in a major championship twice and not won the event?
In old-time pirate movies, “X” was the general location for the elusive buried treasure. Schauffele knows full well 54 holes remain and success in one round does not automatically carry over to the next day. He’s painfully aware of that from previous majors played.
“Teeing off 2:00-something tomorrow, the course is going to be — the greens will be probably a little bit bumpier with a lot of foot traffic coming through. Who knows with the weather, it might rain, so the course might be playing completely different.”
But if “X” is where the treasure can be found then Xander certainly has thrust himself back into the hunt to finally lay claim to a tagline he certainly wants to have said of him – major championship winner.
That test now lays in front of him at Valhalla.
