2024 Open: Xander Schauffele emerges as hottest golfer as Scottie Scheffler looks unstoppable
Scottie Scheffler’s 2024 was remarkable, with six wins, including a Masters and a Players Championship, and top-10 finishes in three of the four majors. He put together one of the best statistical seasons in the last 25 years. For someone else to have a year in the same stratosphere is truly remarkable.
Xander Schauffele won his second major title of the year — and second in three tries — on Sunday when he win the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon with an all-time record. He shot a 6-under bogey-free 65 in the final round, tied for the best round of the week. With a Claret Jug on the line, he was absolutely perfect.
Schauffele’s birdie on the course’s toughest hole, the par-4 11th, was emblematic of his stunning performance. It was his only birdie on the hole all day, and he went on to make three more for a 31 on the back nine. Schauffele called it “the best round I’ve ever played.”
But it was bigger than that. Schauffele’s 65 made for one of the biggest shots seasons used to play.
Scheffler, who could only manage a final-round 72, was one of the players Schauffele beat on Sunday. And while it may not match their season-long performances that Schauffele beat Scheffler for his second major title this year rather than the other way around, it does shed light on the strides Schauffele has made in his career when he has put together as impressive a campaign as Scheffler has amassed — especially considering where they started.
While the win total still favors Scheffler, consider that Schauffele, who has been up 2.0-2.2 strokes the past five years, is approaching 3.0 this season. That’s the level of the best player on the planet.
The “strokes gained” statistic doesn’t win majors by itself, but championships tend to reveal what’s true over the course of a long season, and what’s been true for seven straight months in 2024 is that Schauffele is playing like the best player in the world.
When we look back in 2024, Scheffler’s numbers will still be eye-catching. But they shouldn’t be — and now will not — Schauffele was the creator of one of the greatest golf campaigns of the century.
Winning two majors in a career is rare. Schauffele is just the 89th player in golf history to achieve that feat.
Won two major tournaments Male is an even more terrifying achievement.
“It was tough,” Schauffele said of the final. “It was tough. I think winning [PGA Championship] helped me a lot today on the back nine. I felt calmer. It was very helpful on the hardest back nine I’ve ever played in a tournament.
“I mean, to win two majors in the same year is a dream come true. It took me a long time to win one, and to win two now is something else.”
When the Masters began, there had been only 28 instances of a golfer winning two majors in the same year; Schauffele has achieved 29. He is also the sixth golfer to win the PGA Championship and the Open Championship in the same year — the first to do so since Rory McIlroy in 2014.
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When asked whether he is among the greatest golfers of his generation, Schauffele refused to speculate, leaving the answer to those who analyze the game.
“I just try to win as many tournaments as I can, play the best golf I can and be a nice person,” he said.
Sunday marked Schauffele’s 13th consecutive top-25 finish in the world and his 16th in 17 starts this year. Despite playing 27 majors before his first PGA win, Schauffele had 12 top-10s (44.4%) and six top-5s (22.2%) in his previous starts.
Schauffele’s golf form has been excellent. Add in two major wins and a T7 at the US Open and he has won or finished in the top 10 in 50% of his career major championship appearances.
Perhaps that’s not enough to surpass what Scheffler has achieved on the PGA Tour, but his achievements are bright enough to make you wonder if Scheffler’s stunning effort in 2024 is anything to go by.
The list of notable players who have finished in the top 10 at every major and won two or more in the Masters era is one to watch!
| Arnold Palmer | 1960 | 2 | first | first | 2nd | T7 |
| Player Gary | 1974 | 2 | first | T8 | first | Saturday |
| Jack Nicklaus | 1975 | 2 | first | T7 | T3 | first |
| Tom Watson | 1977 | 2 | first | T7 | first | T6 |
| Tom Watson | 1982 | 2 | T5 | first | first | T9 |
| Tiger Woods | 2000 | 3 | day 5 | first | first | first |
| Tiger Woods | 2005 | 2 | first | 2nd | first | T4 |
| Jordan Spieth | 2015 | 2 | first | first | T4 | 2nd |
| Xander Schauffele | 2024 | 2 | 8 | T7 | first | first |
Schauffele has always been praised by his peers even when he didn’t have the power to match his game. Now he does, and the praise keeps coming.
Justin Rose, who tied for second behind Schauffele and played him on Sunday in the penultimate match of the tournament, was elated.
“A guy who is at the top of his game. A guy who has all the attributes that make him a great player and a great champion,” Rose said of Schauffele. “I think probably one of the most underrated things about him is his mentality. He’s a very calm guy out there. I don’t know how he’s feeling, but he definitely makes it look easy.
“He plays with freedom, which tells you as a player that he probably doesn’t feel too bad. He’s got a lot of road ahead of him and a lot of exciting things ahead of him, I’m sure.”
There’s a lot of interesting stuff behind him, too. The debate over who’s the best golfer of 2024 will continue over the next few months: Scheffler or Schauffele, Schauffele or Scheffler?
What’s certain is this: After all that Scheffler has accomplished over the past seven months, Schauffele turning “player of the year” into a genuine talking point might be the most impressive thing he’s accomplished.
