Xander Schauffele Player Profile And What's In The Bag

By: Derek Clements | Mon 11 Jul 2022

Xander Schauffele continued his red-hot run of form by winning the Scottish Open at Renaissance.

The American, who led after 54 holes, opened with early birdies but dropped shots at the sixth, seventh and ninth holes. However, birdies at the 14th and 16th holes got him back on track and his final round of 70 was good enough to give him a one-shot victory over fellow American Kurt Kitayama and South Korea's Joohyung Kim.

Kitayama claimed one of the final berths at St Andrews, along with Jamie Donaldson of Wales, and Brandon Wu, of America.

"It's an incredible feeling,” said Schauffele, who picked up £1.2m.

The American, who won the JP McManus Pro-Am earlier in the week in Ireland, to follow his win at the PGA Tour's Travelers Championship, said there was "a big sense of relief", explaining: "It was a very stressful day and this is very rewarding.

"I was just trying to find something. Every time I wanted to cut it, I hit away right, and every time I wanted to draw it, it went away left.

"It was nice to hit a few better shots coming down the stretch and calm the ship. It was looking pretty bad for a bit, but this one is extra special because of that."

Kitayama and Kim ended up posing the greatest threat to Schauffele, who was one clear at the start of play, with rounds of 66 and 67 respectively.

Spain's Rafael Cabrera Bello, Englishman Jordan Smith plus Americans Jordan Speith and Ryan Palmer had been the nearest challengers overnight, but all shot over par to fade from contention.

Patrick Cantlay and Tommy Fleetwood also had good final rounds to finish on four under par.

Donaldson and Wu claimed the other two spots at the Open after finishing on three under par, alongside US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Tringale, who shot a course record of 61 in the opening round.

Russell Knox and Connor Syme were the highest-placed Scots on three over par.

Who Is Xander Schauffele?

Schauffele was born in San Diego in October 1993.

He has now won seven times on the PGA Tour and twice on the DP World Tour, and he is the Olympic champion. His victory in the Scottish Open is his second of the season. He is of German descent and his grandfathers both played football at a high level.

He turned professional in 2015 and qualified for the Web.com Tour in 2016, earning his PGA Tour card by finishing 15th in the money list. He finished fifth in his first US Open in 2017 and three weeks later won the Greenbrier Classic. He also won the Tour Championship that year, the first rookie to do so.

He made his Presidents Cup debut in 2019 and his Ryder Cup debut two years later. He has finished tied second at both The Open and The Masters and tied third at the US Open.

He began the week ranked eighth in the FedEx Cup standings and 11th in the world rankings. After his victory in Scotland he moved to third in the FedEx rankings and fifth in the world rankings.

He averages 307.6 yards off the tee and finds 63.40% of fairways and finds 69.07% of greens in regulation. Schauffele averages 28.61 putts per round and gets up and down from the sand 67.21% of the time. He averages 4.38 birdies per round.