Schauffele shines brightly with major moments

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Schauffele shines brightly with major moments

Published: 07 Oct. 2024, 14:43 Updated: 07 Oct. 2024, 17:06

Xander Schauffele celebrates after making a winning birdie putt on the 18th hole green during the final round of the 106th PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on May 19 in Louisville, Kentucky. [GETTY IMAGES]

American World No. 2 heads to Zozo Championship this October as one of the favourites to join an illustrious club of champions in Japan’s lone PGA Tour tournament.

For all the victories and all the scoring prowess and all the achievements compiled by Scottie Scheffler in 2024, here is perhaps his most magical act: He made Xander Schauffele disappear.

We are kidding, of course, but the sentiment is serious. Scheffler was so utterly dominating in 2024 — presuming, of course, you agree that seven wins, one of them being the Masters and another being The Players Championship, plus a FedExCup trophy and an Olympic gold medal can be defined as dominating — that it is easy to overlook what a brilliant season Schauffele had.

Scottie Scheffler, right, and Xander Schauffele laugh together while walking off the 17th tee box during the second round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 12 in Augusta, Georgia. [GETTY IMAGES]

For some, it might be a case of Que, Sera Sera — whatever will be, will be — and there likely will continue to be more gushing about Scheffler and how he earned US$29.2 million in official money and hauled in $62.6m when you factor in the bonus money he bagged as well. There will be talk of it being one of the greatest seasons in PGA Tour history, with good reason, most certainly, and it is fully expected that the good-natured and hugely popular Texan will earn his third consecutive PGA Tour Player of the Year honour.

So salute and applaud as you see fit. But at some point, hopefully the celebration will fade enough so that proper respect will be paid to Schauffele. And the 30-year-old truly deserves it.

We could suggest that it is an unprecedented era we are in right now, what with Scheffler being the dominant No. 1 player in the world and Schauffele being a pretty unflappable No. 2. The former you know about; the guess is, you might not be as in tune with the latter, so here’s spinning the spotlight toward Schauffele.

While he was widely trumped in the win column — only two to Scheffler’s seven — you can’t say Schauffele didn’t save his best for the biggest events. Just two months after winning his first major, the PGA Championship in May, Schauffele put an impressive performance at Royal Troon to win the Open Championship.

Xander Schauffele smiles with and looks at the Claret Jug trophy on the 18th hole green following his two stroke victory during the final round of The 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon on July 21 in Troon, Scotland. [GETTY IMAGES]

Now two major championships in the same season is pretty stout stuff. It’s just the 14th time in the last 45 years that it has happened (four being authored by Tiger Woods) and if you need proof that we’re in a special era, consider that only once since 1980 has a player won two majors in a year and not been named Player of the Year. That would be Nick Faldo in 1990 and the reason was simple — he wasn’t a PGA Tour member.

Thus, presuming Schauffele loses out to Scheffler for Player of the Year honours, it will be a dubious distinction for sure. Still, his season had so many highlights that you need to keep reminding yourself that he doesn’t deserve to be a footnote.

In 15 of his 21 starts, Schauffele finished top 10, twice being second, once landing in third.

The biggest issue was, he was unable to muster much magic in the “Signature Events” as he finished T25 in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, T18 at the RBC Heritage, T8 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday and T13 at the Travelers Championship, each of them a Scheffler win.

It left a sour taste in Schauffele’s mouth and even a superior performance in the majors couldn’t allow him to fend off the Scheffler juggernaut. Still, it is fair to admire what Schauffele did in the majors — eighth at Augusta, first at the PGA, T7 in the U.S. Open, and victorious at the Open. For his 16 rounds in the majors, Schauffele was a robust 32-under par, with Scheffler just 17-under.

It needs to be underscored too, that in his eighth U.S. Open starts, Schauffele has finished top 10 seven times and he’s batting .500 lifetime (15-for-30) with top-10 spots in the majors.

Want further proof that Schauffele’s brilliance is being overshadowed by a competitor who is doing historic stuff, there’s this as well: Currently second in the Official World Golf Ranking, Schauffele’s point total of 11.4671 (as of Sept. 1) would be enough to earn him No. 1 at a similar point in three of the last five years.

Read that again, savour it, and hopefully it provides a truer sense of this remarkable consistent talent.

Ask the 30-year-old Schauffele about the 28-year-old Scheffler and you get nothing but respect. “I think by the definition of dominance, I think that’s literally where he’s sitting,” said Schauffele after finishing T4 at the Tour Championship where a season-ending win clinched the PGA Tour's ultimate prize, the FedExCup, for Scheffler.

Xander Schauffele plays a shot on the 16th hole during the first round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia on Aug. 29. [GETTY IMAGES]

“Scottie has just been at the tip-top of the mountain for two full years now,” added Schauffele, who will headline October’s Zozo Championship in Japan alongside defending champion Collin Morikawa.

True enough. Only here is something that is also true — Schauffele has been only a notch below. A firm notch, yes, but still he has not been that far off. Scheffler closed out his 2024 season having run his consecutive cuts-made streak to 55. The last time he was out of the money was in the summer of 2022. Over his last 65 PGA Tour tournaments, Schauffele has five wins and 33 top-10s.

A Californian by birth, Schauffele is a cultural wonderment. His father, Stefan, is German; his mother, Chen Ping-Yi, was born in Taiwan but raised in Japan. Winning the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 2021 was special to him and there is a lingering feeling that if Schauffele had held on and successfully defended the gold medal in Paris in August (instead of closing with 73 to finish T-9 and see Scheffler win gold) that the season could have ended more positively. Perhaps a win in front of his family at the Zozo Championship would be the sweetener to end his 2024.

But there is no playing the could’ve or would’ve scenarios for Schauffele. There is only total acceptance of the reality, which is this: As great a year as Schauffele had, it still stands second to Scheffler’s.

Small consolation, perhaps, but here is a very warm thought that Schauffele could take into the post-season: Imagine, if you will, that at next spring’s Masters, Schauffele after four previous top 10s finally breaks through and wins at Augusta National.

Praise would ring out and it would be written how Schauffele had now won three of the last four major titles and was three-quarters of the way to the career grand slam. By tradition, Scheffler, as defending champion, would help Schauffele into the Green Jacket and maybe, just maybe the point would be made that this is a quite a one-two punch the game has.

BY JIM MCCABE [kjdsports@joongang.co.kr]