Xander Schauffele has had an amazing year in golf.
He won two major championships, finished second three times, and placed in the top 10 fifteen times out of 21 events. Plus, he didn’t miss a single cut and earned over $18 million during this time.
His stats are impressive too—second in Strokes Gained: Total, first in scrambling, and second in scoring average among his peers on the PGA Tour.
Competition with Scottie Scheffler:
Yet, despite these achievements, there’s someone who outshined him: Scottie Scheffler with eight titles including Olympic gold. In any other year, Xander would have been a sure pick for PGA Tour Player of the Year. But with Scottie’s performance, Xander himself feels he’s not even close to winning the award this time around.
Fans might think it’s tough luck for Xander given his great season! During a chat at the Zozo Championship before starting individually since the Tour Championship, Xander joked that he’d need an even better year to win such an honor.
Reflecting on his past season where he snagged victories at both the PGA Championship and Open Championship brought joy beyond words for him—a dream come true really!
Switching coaches played a big role in his success story this year too. Before hiring swing coach Chris Como last year (who also coached Tiger Woods), Xander worked with his dad Stefan but wasn’t winning majors then.
With his dad’s blessing to look elsewhere for guidance—enter Chris Como—and soon after came two major wins! Initially strange hearing advice from someone new; however trusting Chris paid off big time.
Xander said about Chris: “He’s been tremendous… I trust him a lot.” It was scary changing coaches after having one all life long but putting faith into what Chris advised turned out beneficial indeed!
What do you think about Xander’s journey?
