It’s something to see when a monkey the size of a skyscraper-scaling Kong is shaken from straining shoulders. The exact moment when relief, joy, satisfaction and validation arrive at an intersection clogged with emotions shows how hard it all has been.
How elusive. How meaningful.
When San Diego treasure Xander Schauffele watched a putt take an extended tour of the cup’s edge on No. 18 Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club to win the PGA Championship, very, very good became great.
Sewing up a major after capturing gold at the 2020 Olympics and winning seven other times on the PGA Tour is a separator between those in the conversation and those who create the conversation.
You’ve walked through a door. You’ve redirected and reshaped your legacy. You’re changed, forever.
First major. San Diego exhaled. So did Schauffele.
“I kept telling myself, I need to earn this, I need to prove this to myself, and this is my time,” Schauffele said after winning Sunday.
To be 30 with a CVS-sized receipt of successes and still have so much expected would cause most to wilt. You stack greatness upon greatness with Tour wins and Olympic glory, only to hear the conversation shift to the lack of even more greatness.
In a we-want-more society, golf wanted more out of Schauffele. It had become the ultimate compliment and vote of confidence, but also biting and singularly unfair.
Lassoing a major is an arduous and unforgiving slog. Start with 156 players, all but one of the top 100 in the world, chasing the same thing that only one can achieve.
Stretch it across four days and 72 holes, where a single misfire or instant of drifting focus can seal fates.
Then pile the stress and expectations of being the next big thing who hasn’t quite turned that corner, a 14-time runner-up with two of those in majors, and the heat grows.
Second in the 2018 British Open. Second in the 2019 Masters. Third in the 2019 U.S. Open. Third in the 2021 Masters.
So close. Right there. Running down a major, though, is not for wobbling will or weak knees.
“I just kept telling myself that, just weather the storm,” Schauffele said Sunday.
Weather it? He was a deckhand in an ice storm with building-sized swells in the Bering Sea. His 21-under par became the new scoring gold standard in the history of the majors.
When Viktor Hovland charged, Schauffele hit the gas. When Collin Morikawa neared, he fought to maintain footing. When Schauffele bogeyed 10 Sunday, he followed with a pair of birdies to stem the momentary bleeding.
With his ball in the sand on 17, he pulled par from the flames. With his feet in the sand on 18, he dodged disaster for a trophy-cinching birdie.
This day continued to demand more, as majors routinely do. Schauffele had to truly and fully earn it. There would be no path to cruise to the finish. Skillfully and strategically attack. Measure risk, but do not become paralyzed by it.
It’s all such maddening, thin-margin calculus.
Bryson DeChambeau, for one, ensured Schauffele could walk away from Valhalla knowing the moment had been seized. No charity. No fluke. Nothing but talent and grit.
When DeChambeau birdied 18 to go to 20 under, Schauffele was navigating his treacherous route down 17.
“I was able to capture that moment there, getting up-and-down on 17 was really big, and then that chip there on 18 was big for me, as well,” he said. “I just kept telling myself I need to earn this, earn this and be in the moment, and I was able to do that.”
First major. Major scoring record. Guaranteed spot with the U.S. at the Paris Olympics. Now, No. 2 in the world.
It all came together so deliciously, and finally, amid the bluegrass and bourbon for the former Scripps Ranch High School and San Diego State player. Being the answer to the trivia question about the best player not to win a major has gone the way of the dodo.
The sign more could be perched on a picturesque horizon came in the words Schauffele used at the finish.
“All of us are climbing this massive mountain,” Schauffele explained. “At the top of the mountain is Scottie Scheffler. I won this today, but I’m still not that close to Scottie Scheffler in the big scheme of things.
“I got one good hook up there in the mountain up on that cliff, and I’m still climbing. I might have a beer up there on that side of the hill there and enjoy this, but it’s not that hard to chase when someone is so far ahead of you.”
That intersection of emotions has been cleared for fresh and flowing mental traffic, meaning Schauffele has stiff-armed away a nagging distraction for good.
It’s on to the next.
A corner turned. A major corner.
“All those close calls for me, even last week (finishing second to Rory McIlroy at the Wells Fargo Championship), that sort of feeling, it gets to you at some point,” Schauffele said. “It just makes this even sweeter.”
So long, Kong.
Major achievements
Xander Schauffele’s victory Sunday in the PGA Championship put him in very
special company, ing the small group of San Diegans who have won a major
golf title. The list (ranked by most titles):
PGA Tour
Phil Mickelson (USDHS):
Masters (2004, 2006, 2010), PGA Championship (2005, 2021), British Open
Championship (2013)
Billy Casper (Chula Vista HS): Masters (1970), U.S. Open (1959, 1966)
Gene Littler (La Jolla HS/San Diego State): U.S. Open (1961)
Craig Stadler (La Jolla HS): Masters (1982)
Scott Simpson (Madison HS): U.S. Open (1987)
Xander Schauffele (Scripps Ranch HS/San Diego State); PGA Championship (2024)
LPGA Tour
Mickey Wright (Hoover HS): Western Open (1962, 1963, 1966), Titleholder’s Championship (1961, 1962),
Women’s PGA Championship (1958, 1960, 1961, 1963), U.S. Women’s Open (1958, 1959, 1961, 1964)
