After in two months, Xander Schauffele acknowledged how much winning the first one at the PGA Championship in May helped him down the stretch Sunday at Royal Troon. It was a big reason why he looked so calm and collected during that back-nine 31 as he pulled away from a packed leaderboard at the Open Championship—not that his caddie, Austin Kaiser, felt the same way.
“I was telling Austin, my caddie, on the 18th hole that I felt pretty calm coming down the stretch," Schauffele told Sky Sports after. "And he said he was about to puke on the 18th."
But while the victory at Valhalla was a big factor in Schauffele's lack of nerves, it also helped that he played about the most stress-free round of golf possible. At least, given the setting of the final round of a major championship.
By now, golf fans are well familiar with Schauffele's ball-striking clinic that produced 16 greens hit in regulation, but there's another, wilder stat that tells the story even better. Put simply, he never had to even sweat over a par putt.
That's right, the longest par putt he faced all day—2 feet, 10 inches—was one you and your buddies would just give each other. Crazy.
That (nearly) three-footer came on the par-5 fourth hole when Schauffele ran his 20-foot birdie attempt past the hole. And despite hitting all those greens, he never left himself more than that for par all day.
In fact, the two times he missed a green, on No. 2 and No. 9, he nearly chipped in. Talk about having total mastery of all facets of your game.
Add it all up, and Schauffele shot a bogey-free 65 that included a back-nine 31. And a fitting final tap-in par on 18.
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