Xander Schauffele lastly broke by. What made the distinction?

The previous 12 months had all of it — loopy profitable streaks, new main champs, a major-week arrest (!) and extra. With 2025 on the horizon, our writers are trying again on the most memorable moments from 2024.

No. 15 — Charley Hull goes viral | No. 14 — LIV, LPGA CEOs say goodbye | No. 13— Solheim Cup parking fiasco | No. 12 — Phoenix Open chaos | No. 11 — Lydia Ko’s Corridor of Fame resurgence | No. 10 — PGA Tour/Saudi PIF merger stalemate | No. 9 — Keegan Bradley named Ryder Cup captain | No. 8 — Lexi Thompson stepped away

Greatest golf moments of 2024 No. 8: Xander Schauffele takes the subsequent step

Within the hours after his son’s breakthrough main championships victory, I spoke with Xander Schauffele’s father Stefan from his delivery container home-in-progress in Hawaii. He’d been there each step of his son’s journey to {golfing} greatness, in any case. What did it imply to get throughout the road?

“We knew it was going to come back,” Stefan mentioned matter-of-factly; he’d trekked down the mountain for the PGA Championship’s again 9 as his son’s victory grew to become increasingly seemingly. “In our minds — I feel I can communicate for him there — there was by no means a second of doubt in that respect. I imply, look how constant he’s. It simply occurred.”

Okay, however how did it truly really feel?

“I simply began crying. Lastly it occurred. Lastly, that occurred,” Stefan mentioned, inevitability changed by surprise. “I used to be simply observing till he received — after which I let the feelings go. At that second I used to be helpless. Give me the Kleenex field.”

There’s no query that Scottie Scheffler was the PGA Tour’s dominant victor in 2024, and that Nelly Korda did practically the identical on the LPGA aspect, and that Bryson DeChambeau paired YouTube dominance with a U.S. Open victory. However when it got here to probably the most old-school metric of all — complete main victories — just one participant on the planet added two to their title.

Stefan Schauffele could have skipped a visit to Valhalla, however he didn’t miss a summer season Scottish journey, making the midsummer trek to Royal Troon for the Open Championship. When that, too, led to victory, his father was thrilled, moved and even extra assured in his son’s future.

“He’s solely midway there,” Stefan mentioned, attribute twinkle in his eye. “I might say [he’s] the one with the best potential for the profession grand slam. How about that?”

However what was the distinction? What had taken Schauffele from perennial major-championship contender to victor — after which victor once more? There’s no easy reply, and a few analytically minded may chalk it as much as luck, to variance, to flips of the coin. This yr at numerous factors Schauffele credited his expertise, his ongoing work, the addition of Chris Como to his workforce and, as he mentioned, sticking to the mantra that a gradual drip caves a stone. Once I received an opportunity to spend time with Xander himself earlier this December, then, I used to be keen to listen to him describe it with the advantage of just a few months’ hindsight.

“You by no means know the way you’re going to react when you’re within the spot,” he mentioned in between pictures on a Florida driving vary. “You observe every thing you’re purported to do the appropriate approach, the method, all these items. However I might get in a few of these spots and I felt like there have been sure holes in my sport.”

He cited Carnoustie for instance, calling again to the 2018 Open Championship the place he was within the combine on the again 9 Sunday and confirmed what he describes as a scarcity of self-discipline.

“The way in which I used to be swinging the membership, it was exhausting for me to hit a managed type of minimize; every thing was off the toe, crashing left. And that’s nonetheless my tendency now; I simply have extra of an understanding of it. However I’d get in these spots and I might see this again proper pin. I’m like, ‘Nicely, the proper shot is a minimize.’ And I’m sitting there and [I’d been] so disciplined the entire match to attempt to simply hit like a low draw, simply left of it. After which unexpectedly, , I’m so good, I’m going to attempt to hit the minimize after which I mess it up. And now you’re all in your head. You simply begin to unravel. And so numerous that was taking place to me, the place I felt my sport was so shut, I didn’t settle for what I had. I all the time wished extra.

“And so I suppose it’s just like the pursuit of perfection to the place you wish to hit all of the pictures on the proper time within the large moments. And alongside the way in which you be taught it’s probably not all about that.”

He didn’t obtain {golfing} perfection in 2024, nor will he in 2025. However for 2 weeks — two of the largest weeks, for that matter — he achieved the proper consequence. Schauffele is a serious champion. Nothing can change that now.

You possibly can watch our full Warming Up interview under.

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