Inside Xander Schauffele’s triumph | Seen & Heard on the Open Championship

Welcome to GOLF.com’s “Seen & Heard” video sequence, by which we offer you an inside take a look at golf’s greatest occasions via the eyes and ears of our onsite crew. On deck this week: the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon.

ICYMI: Tiger talks, Rory’s confession | Seen & Heard on the Open Championship Day 1
ICYMI: Scheffler’s rust, MacIntyre’s wild celebration | Seen & Heard on the Open Championship Day 2
ICYMI: Tiger’s main letdown, Lowry battles | Seen & Heard on the Open Championship

The 54-hole mark of the 2024 Open Championship introduced quite a few what-ifs. Billy Horschel led the cost by a single shot, however there have been a dozen gamers who you could possibly argue had a reliable probability of claiming the title.

After a brutal day of climate on Saturday, Sunday was dry, with whipping wind. Eighteen holes remained to crown the champion.

GOLF’s Sean Zak was bullish on Xander Schauffele’s possibilities from the start.

“You play hyperlinks golf, it’s all about controlling a golf ball. It’s an underrated talent,” he mentioned. “I feel Xander’s gonna pip ’em right now.”

Zak’s prediction performed out, and Xander Schauffele was topped Champion Golfer of the 12 months by two pictures — incomes his second main championship title and leaving his chasers, like Shane Lowry and Justin Rose, upset however pleased with their efforts.

As for Schauffele, he was content material to bask within the afterglow of the win.

“It actually is among the coolest emotions I’ve ever had in my life,” he mentioned. “I obtained chills strolling down [18].

“I’m simply curious to see what my dad’s gonna choose as a primary drink to drink out of this.”

GOLFs’ James Colgan caught up with Schauffele’s father, Stefan, after the spherical, and he issued a surprising prediction.

“He mentioned, of all of the golfers alive proper now, Xander is the closest to finishing the profession grand slam,” Colgan mentioned. “After which he checked out me after he mentioned that, with a smile, and mentioned, ‘How about that?’”

How about that, certainly.

Schauffele and his friends have a protracted await the following main check on the Masters in 2025. Earlier than that, we now have the Olympics, the FedEx Cup and the Presidents Cup to get pleasure from. However for these of us intrigued by Stefan Schauffele’s prediction, the countdown to Augusta begins … now.

To observe a video of the GOLF’s group full Sunday expertise on the Open, take a look at the video above. You can too view the “Seen & Heard” sequence in its entirety on YouTube right here.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of feminine varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everybody on the masthead. She will be able to out-hustle them within the workplace, too, the place she’s primarily accountable for producing each print and on-line options, and overseeing main particular tasks, similar to GOLF’s inaugural Model Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview sequence, “A Spherical With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in each within the journal and in video kind on GOLF.com.