Two months ago, Xander Schauffele did not have a single major to his name, now he has his sights set on becoming only the sixth player in history to complete the Grand Slam of golf.
The American clearly had the talent with 10 title wins and an Olympic gold medal, which he will defend in Paris, without winning on the biggest stage.
On Sunday, he produced a final round of 65 devoid of a single bogey and scored 31 on the back nine, a sequence of holes he described as the toughest of his career and one that had derailed plenty of other past champions over the course of the last four days.
With just one over-par round all week, it left him at nine-under par and two clear of Justin Rose, who himself had battled so valiantly just days away from his 44th birthday.
Such was Schauffele’s brilliance, the wait for a first English Open winner since Sir Nick Faldo in 1992 drags on for another year. It is an anomaly why that should be the case, so too the fact that the last Brit to lift the Claret Jug did so a quarter of a century ago.
There was no doubting the validity of the champion golfer of the year, Schauffele’s second major win of 2024 ensuring the Americans had done a clean sweep of the majors for the first time since 1982.
With the Ryder Cup looming in New York next year, ominously for Europe they have won the last seven majors on the bounce. For Schauffele’s part, he has his sights set on more golfing glory.
He said: “I thought my previous major win would help me and it did. It gave me a sense of calm that I didn’t have when I played at the PGA. I felt collected and I was telling my caddie [Austin Kaiser] on the 18th that I felt calm. He said he was about to puke!
“The Grand Slam is something I’ve always wanted. I’m one step closer but I still have a long way to go. But if you don’t see yourself doing it, you’re never going to do it.”
Other players threatened to make it a thrilling finale at Royal Troon, perhaps mostly notably Rose with three birdies in the first seven holes to put him six-under and, for a time, at the top of the leaderboard.
His round of 67 was as good as anything he has produced in years and apt at an event where he had first announced his presence as an amateur teenager in finishing fourth 26 years previously.
But Schauffele effectively put his hands on the Claret Jug with his mastery of Troon’s toughest section of holes. A wedge shot out of the rough on 11 set up a birdie, the only player to pick up a shot there in the final round. There had been just two birdies there previously all week.
Another birdie at 13 put him in a share of the lead before the unheralded South African Thriston Lawrence, among those to threaten like Rose, dropped a shot to leave Schauffele in the lead on his own.
“That was the best round of my life,” he said following the win. “Hearing your name called with ‘Open champion’ after, it’s something I’ve dreamt of for a very long time.
“But there’s still a lot of things that I’d like to do in my career and this is a very big leap towards that. The fire is still burning, maybe brighter than ever.”
Approaching his mid-40s, Rose knows his opportunities on the biggest stage might be dwindling but it was hard to rue a round with just one bogey as Schauffele played a level of golf beyond the Englishman and the rest of the chasers.
“Two major championships this year, strongest fields in golf, they’ve been my best two weeks,” said Rose, who had to come through qualifying to make the Open field.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence that I can compete at the majors. That’s what I’m gunning for, to have these big-time moments in my career.
“I’m super proud of how I competed. Today was nearly it, it was a lot of fun.”
