Xander Schauffele officially put his name in the history books on Sunday after winning his second major championship in 2024 with his victory at the 2024 British Open at Royal Troon in Scotland.
The 30-year-old golfer ended his weekend at Royal Troon with an impressive fourth round, collecting six birdies and zero bogeys to climb the leaderboard on the last day.
Thriston Lawrence of South Africa spent a large portion of the day ahead of Schauffele in the standings, but clutch shots from Schauffele down the stretch and a bogey by Lawrence on the 12th hole allowed Schauffele to take and hold the lead for the rest of the day.
Schauffele walked away with a major title and the largest prize in the history of The Open Championship, claiming a record-setting $3.1 million of the $17 million total purse for taking first place, according to CBS Sports.
Billy Horschel and Justin Rose tied for second place in the tournament after both shot -7 for the tournament, splitting the second and third-place prizes to each walk away with $1,443,500.
After struggling to end the day, Lawrence finished in fourth place and took home a prize of $876,000 and an invitation to his first-ever Masters at Augusta National next April.
Schauffele started a total of 28 matches in his career before managing to claim a major championship, becoming known as one of the best golfers of all time to never win, per CBS Sports.
However, he has now changed the narrative as he continues to put together a historic run this year.
This win marks Schauffele’s second major championship in 2024, coming just two months after he won the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
“It’s a dream come true to win two majors in one year,” he said after winning, per The Associated Press. “It took me forever just to win one, and to have two now is something else.”
Schauffele said after the tournament that winning a major championship is different than any other tournament so far in his career, explaining that golfers must have a different mindset near the end of a major tournament.
“There’s calmness and super stressful moments when you’re trying to win a major championship,” he said, according to ESPN. “I felt them in the past — the ones I didn’t win — and I let them get to me. Today, I felt like I did a pretty good job of weathering the storm when I needed to,” he said.
According to Schauffele, winning a major championship is different from winning any other tournament so far in his career. He explains that golfers must have a different mindset near the end of a major tournament.
“There’s calmness and super stressful moments when you’re trying to win a major championship,” he said, according to ESPN. “I felt them in the past — the ones I didn’t win — and I let them get to me. Today, I felt like I did a pretty good job of weathering the storm when I needed to,” he said.
Schauffele will now look to keep this calmness rolling as he prepares for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he will be joined on Team USA by Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, and Collin Morikawa.
While the Olympics’ opening ceremony is set for July 26, men’s golf will begin on August 1 and run through August 4, per NBC Olympics.
