Winless for more than two years, Schauffele picked up his fourth victory in the past 12 months on Sunday when he overcame a tough stretch midway through his round with two key birdies and an even-par 70 to win the Scottish Open. . Next comes another test on Scottish soil, this purest of all, the Open Championship at St. Andrews. Schauffele heads home to golf as one of the hottest players in the world. It was the first time the PGA Tour had sanctioned a European Tour. “It’s just an honor to win the first one,” said Schauffele, who now has seven career PGA Tour titles. Xander Schauffele holds the trophy for the Scottish Open after his victory on Sunday, which was his fourth in the last 12 months. Andrew Redington/Getty Images His 8-foot bogey on the par-3 17th at The Renaissance Club gave him a 2-shot lead, and the 28-year-old from San Diego played it smart from there. He took the iron off the 18th tee to avoid trouble and ended up missing an 8-foot par that only affected the margin. Schauffele finished at 7-under 273, 1 shot ahead of Kurt Kitayama (66). Kitayama had a 1-shot lead on the back nine and stayed tied until he missed a 6-foot left putt on the 17th hole and then had to wait to see if his score would be enough. The consolation for Kitayama was earning one of the three spots in the field at The Open, his third straight at golf’s oldest championship. The other two spots went to Brandon Wu and Jamie Donaldson, who tied for sixth. So many others had a chance to earn a place at St. Andrews. Rickie Fowler has played in every Open Championship since 2010 and entered the final round of the Scottish Open within striking distance. But he closed with a 75 and headed back home across the Atlantic. Ryan Palmer was also in position until he played the back nine with two bogeys and no birdies and lost by 2 shots. It was more difficult for Alex Smalley, who only needed a par on the 18th to earn a spot. He played a bogeyman. It wasn’t easy for Schauffele either. He started the final round with a 2-shot lead and birdied the opening two holes. He was 4 shots ahead after five holes. And when he got to the back nine, he was 1 shot back. “That was stressful,” Schauffele said. “I’m not going to put makeup on the pig here. It was a very average day, probably my worst this week. You can’t get ahead of yourself in links golf. I was ahead, behind, ahead, behind. I just kept my head me down.” It started to turn in his favor when Schauffele made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole to regain the lead and then reached the par-5 16th in 2 to make a 2-foot birdie putt that extended his lead to 2 shots. . Equally important was the 17th, when he putt from behind the green about 8 feet from the hole and made par to keep his cushion. Schauffele has now won two consecutive PGA Tour starts — his win at the JP McManus Pro-Am in Ireland earlier in the week doesn’t count — heading into the final Major of the year. The last player to win twice in a row before a major was Dustin Johnson in 2016 and then tied for ninth at the Open Championship at Royal Troon. Schauffele had gone more than three years without a win, dating to the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Kapalua to start 2019, and it was gnawing at him. But then Schauffele won Olympic gold at the Tokyo Olympics last summer. He teamed with Patrick Cantlay to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in late April, and now he’s added two more of his own. This takes him to No. 5 in the world. “Just to get over the hump, honestly, it was big,” he said of his first PGA Tour victory this year in New Orleans. “It was definitely a kick-start for me, as you can tell.” Joohyung Kim, the 20-year-old South Korean, also had a brief share of the lead with a brilliant play at the 17th where his ball rolled off the backside slope to 5 feet for birdie. But he bogeyed the 18th and shot a 67 to finish third. It moved to No. 39, its first time in the top 50. Jordan Spieth had his adventures again. He was 1 shot off the lead until he pulled his tee shot on the 14th into tall grass, chipped away and double bogeyed, then bogeyed the 15th with a wedge in his hand from the fairway. Spieth had two birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey on the back nine and shot a 72 to tie for 10th place.
