Xander Schauffele, one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour for the last four years, won his fifth PGA Tour title at the Travelers Championship on June 26. The victory was Schaufelle’s first since 2019, despite the fact he has been ranked among the top 15 in the Official World Golf Rankings every week since October 2018.
Schauffele is often the golf odds favorite to win every tournament he plays in, like how the Chiefs are NFL odds favorite. He is regularly within striking distance at most events but has yet to win a major. His victory at the Travelers Championship could give him the momentum he needs heading into The Open Championship later in July.
Schauffele shot in the 60s in each of the four rounds of the tournament and finished 19-under with a two-stroke victory over JT Poston and Sahith Theegala.
Early Tournament Dominance
Schauffele jumped out to a great start with a 63 in the first round and followed that up with another 63 on Friday. He trailed Rory McIlroy by one stroke after the first round, but McIlroy struggled in rounds two and three and ultimately finished T-19 and 9-under.
The most impressive thing about Schauffele’s first two rounds is that he didn’t card a single bogey. He recorded 11 pars and seven birdies in both rounds and didn’t shoot over par on a hole until No. 13 in the third round, when he had a six on the par-5. He only had three bogeys in the tournament.
Sahith Theegala’s Collapse
If Schauffele wants to remember this tournament for a long time, Sahith Theegala is hoping to forget it as soon as possible. The American has had a breakthrough rookie season and has been hovering near the top of the leaderboard at several tournaments this season. He had a chance to win his first event on Sunday but faltered on No. 18.
Theegala played bogey-free golf on Saturday and again was bogey-free through 17 holes on Sunday. He had a one-stroke lead over Schauffele heading into 18 before hitting his tee shot that landed an inch or two from the lip of a fairway bunker. His next shot hit the edge of the bunker and ultimately didn’t go anywhere.
Theegala ended up with a double bogey on the hole, and Schauffele recorded a birdie to finish two strokes ahead.
“All I had to do was chunk it. We even said, like, this is a 50/50 ball in terms of I got to try and just basically hit it just a hair behind it,” Theegala said after the tournament, struggling to explain what had just happened. “Somehow, my body just, I just straight bladed it. I had room there. I don’t know how it looked, but I had room there.”
Americans Perform Well
Despite stars like Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, and Phil Mickelson joining LIV Golf, the PGA Tour still has its share of American talent. Nineteen of the top 20 finishers were American, including Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, and Tony Finau.
Martin Laird (Scotland) was the top international finisher, while others inside the top 30 included McIlroy (UK), Kyoung-Hoon Lee (South Korea), and MacKenzie Hughes (Canada).
