Xander Schauffele claimed his second major triumph of 2024 after impressively pulling clear late to win the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon.
The 30-year-old American entered the start of play on the final day tied for second with five other golfers, trailing overnight leader Billy Horschel, the most going into the final round of a major for 30 years. But Schauffele put his foot on the gas following consecutive birdies at the sixth and seventh adding a further four birdies in a six-hole stretch to take a big stride forward towards victory.
He went onto close with a sublime bogey-free six-under 65 to end on nine under, two shots clear of playing partner Justin Rose, and claim the iconic Claret Jug and with it $3.1m.
The Champion Golfer of the Year now adds this Open Championship victory to his earlier PGA Championship triumph, becoming the first golfer to achieve this feat of winning both these majors since Rory McIlroy in 2014. Just as impressive, Schauffele has secured a top-10 finish in all four of his major appearances this year, marking a remarkable season.
With his victory in the final major of the men’s calendar, this marks the first time since 1982 that players from the U.S. have won all four majors in a single year. Scottie Scheffler claimed the Masters title and Bryson DeChambeau won the U.S. Open.
“I thought [winning the US PGA Championship] would help me and it actually did,” said Schauffele.
“I had this sense of calm, a calm I didn’t have when I played earlier at the PGA.
“For some reason, I was calm and collected. I was telling my caddie Austin that I felt pretty calm coming down the stretch and he said he was about to puke on the 18th tee!
“I just told myself to just hit it down there and keep moving along.”
Horschel’s hopes of claiming a first ever major triumph began to slip after he bogeyed the eight and 10th but his late flurry of three successive birdies meant that he joined Rose in second on seven under While South African Thriston Lawrence, who found himself top of the leaderboard with seven to play thanks to four birdies on the front nine, was unable to keep his cool and ended the tournament three shots back in fourth on 6 under.
As for big names including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, they both crashed out earlier in the tournament after both failed to make the 36-hole cut.
“I’ve always loved majors,” said Woods. “I just wish I was physically sharper coming into them. It tests you mentally, physically, emotionally and I just wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be.
“I was hoping I would find it somehow. Just never did. Consequently, my results and scores were pretty high.”
When is the next major?
As the 152nd Open Championship concludes the majors on the men’s calendar for 2024, we look forward to the 2025 major season which will commence with the 89th edition of the Masters Tournament which will take place in April at Augusta National.