For the second time in two starts, Xander Schauffele came out on top. After nearly a two-shot lead at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, Schauffele rallied with two birdies in the final five holes of the day to claim the Scottish Open. “That was stressful. I’m not going to put makeup on the pig here,” Schauffele told CBS. “It was a very average day, probably my worst this week… You really can’t get ahead of yourself in links golf. I was ahead, I was behind, I was ahead, I was behind. I just kept my head down.” Schauffele stumbled in his finish on Saturday, bogeying the final two holes of the day to card a 4-under 66. While that matched the low round on a windy day at The Renaissance Club, it gave him a two-shot lead. Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello, his lead could have been much, much longer. “I pretty much had everything,” Schauffele said after the third round. “I was judging the bounces well and making the shots I needed to and getting up and down when I missed the green. Six birdies through 16, no complaints and a tough finish.” While Schauffele opened with two straight birdies on Sunday to rebuild his lead, he made three bogeys in his final four holes on the front nine – which opened the door for the rest of the field. Kurt Kitayama jumped to a share of the lead after closing early with a 4-under 66, and Joohyung Kim also got there with a pair of birdies on his final three holes. Patrick Candley, Tommy Fleetwood and even Jordan Spieth—albeit briefly—also made strong pushes. That, however, is when Schauffele reactivated it. He birdied No. 14 and then sank an easy birdie putt after missing an eagle putt on the par-5 16th to take a two-shot lead once again. Despite landing just behind a head of spray at the par-3 17th, Schauffele saved his par to enter the final hole up two. Schauffele narrowly missed a par on the final hole after his approach landed just short of the green, but it didn’t matter. He still left the course with a one-shot victory, which marked the seventh of his PGA Tour career. The story continues Kitayama finished second at 6-over and Kim third at 5-over for the week. Kitayama’s finish earned him a spot at the British Open next week, as did Brandon Wu and Jamie Donaldson. Cabrera Bello, who started just two shots back, finished T36 after shooting a 7-over 77 on Sunday. Schauffele has now won three times on Tour this season and earned his 12th top-25 finish. He won the Zurich Classic in April before winning the Travelers Championship last month, which lifted him to No. 11 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He has now won back-to-back tournaments twice in his career and has jumped to third in the FedExCup standings. While next week in St. Andrews is certainly a much bigger challenge, Schauffele is playing as well as he could possibly be heading into the final major of the season. “I’m not sure if it’s like a curse or something,” Schauffele said of going into the British Open after a win. “I will ignore all media as [much as] possible. There are some children [who] I’d like to talk to me about the story and everything, but obviously I’m in good form and I’ll try to carry it into next week.”
