Xander Schauffele

Xander Schauffele’s teenage dreams were realised at Royal Troon and the prevalence of his father in the crowd could not have been more fitting.  

Stefan Schauffele watched on from Hawaii as his son won the US PGA Championship in May, sobbing as any proud father would but unable to share in the significance of the occasion.

That was not the case on the Ayrshire coast, with all of Schauffele’s ‘day ones’ waiting to embrace the Champion Golfer of the Year after he delivered on a plan hatched half a lifetime ago.

“I sat down with my dad when I was maybe 15 and 16 and we started to really hash out some goals and dreams of what I'd like to do,” said Schauffele.

“I was on the couch with my dad a lot watching other guys win majors and win big tournaments – my dad and I have definitely talked about this.

“We've watched that walk up 18 pretty much every year until I played in The Open. It's definitely something that we've both dreamt of.”

Schauffele’s name is the only one engraved on the Claret Jug but his appreciation for his loved ones shone through during an epic finale to The 152nd Open.

Caddie Austin Kaiser was a college teammate of Schauffele’s at San Diego State, so it’s little surprise that the pair made the famous walk down the 18th stride for stride.

Luckily, it was Kaiser who was feeling the pressure on the 18th. 

“I was telling Austin on the 18th tee that I had felt pretty calm coming down the stretch and he said he was about to puke,” said Schauffele.

“He's one of my best friends and it's a team thing.

“In my head I knew I was about to have my moment and there was no one better to share it with than Austin because he deserves it as well.”

For all his humility, only Schauffele can take the credit for what he described as the ‘best round he’s played.’

You could sense the tension in his body as he lined up for the winning putt at Valhalla back in May but there was rarely any sign of nerves this week.

He overcame his final links test in emphatic fashion with a blistering bogey-free 65 on Sunday which immediately went down as one of the great all-time Championship rounds.

“It's a completely different style of golf to what we have in America,” he said.

“It makes you play shots and have different ball positions. There's so much risk/reward when the wind's blowing 20 miles an hour and it starts raining. There's so many different variables that come into play.

“It truly is an honour to win this. To me it's big. To me, winning the Scottish Open was big because it meant my game could travel. So to double that up and win a major in Scotland is even cooler.”

Schauffele may give the impression of being an ice-cool character but that belies the fire which burns inside.

He has already made history by becoming the first player since Brooks Koepka in 2018 to win two majors in a single year and he will surely break more records in the years to follow.

Just don’t expect him to be pumping his chest and roaring his way to glory.

“Everyone in my family knows how competitive I am. I may not be the guy running around fist pumping, but that's just who I am,” he said.

“I kind of know how I need to be to perform at a high level.

“If I'm sitting there snapping a club, that would be the same as me running around fist pumping. It would take too long for me to adjust before my next shot to hit a good one.

“There's obviously a fire burning deep within, or I wouldn't have a couple majors sitting by my side.”

He will head to Royal Portrush next year as the defending Champion Golfer, going in search of the mythical double triumph. 

But before attention turns to his return of the Claret Jug, there is one important and long-standing question to answer. 

"I'm just curious to see what my dad is going to pick as a first drink to drink out of this," he added. "He is going to have to figure out what he wants to put in there because he's taking the first gulp."