Xander Schauffele admitted he used criticism over his winning mentality as fuel to end his run of near-misses and claim a maiden major win, in record-breaking fashion, at the PGA Championship. Schauffele produced a brilliant up-and-down birdie on the final hole to earn a one-shot victory over Bryson DeChambeau at Valhalla, where he finished on 21 under to complete a wire-to-wire win and register the lowest score in relation to par in major championship history. The Olympic gold medallist becomes the fifth consecutive American men's major champion and jumps him above Rory McIlroy to second in the latest world rankings, with the win also silencing those who questioned his ability to close out tournaments.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Schauffele had 12 previous major top-10s without winning and had turned just two of his eight 54-hole leads or co-leads on the PGA Tour into victory before Sunday, where he claimed an eighth PGA Tour title and first since July 2022. Speaking about how he used negativity around his previous near-misses, Schauffele said. "Definitely a chip on the shoulder there.
It just is what it is at the end of the day. You guys are asking the questions, probing, and I have to sit here and answer it. "It's a lot easier to answer it with this thing [Wanamaker Trophy] sitting next to me now, obviously.
It's just fuel, fuel to my fire. It always has been growing up, and it certainly was leading up to this." Schauffele had been overhaul.