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

Welcome to GOLF.com’s “Seen & Heard” video sequence, during which we provide you with an inside look at golf’s greatest occasions by 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 at the Open Championship Day 1
ICYMI: Scheffler’s rust, MacIntyre’s wild celebration | Seen & Heard at the Open Championship Day 2
ICYMI: Tiger’s main letdown, Lowry battles | Seen & Heard at the Open Championship

The 54-hole mark of the 2024 Open Championship offered quite a few what-ifs. Billy Horschel led the cost by a single shot, however there have been a dozen gamers who you may argue had a legit 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 starting.

“You play links golf, it’s all about controlling a golf ball. It’s an underrated skill,” he stated. “I think Xander’s gonna pip ’em today.”

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

As for Schauffele, he was content material to indulge in the afterglow of the win.

“It really is one of the coolest feelings I’ve ever had in my life,” he stated. “I acquired chills strolling down [18].

“I’m just curious to see what my dad’s gonna pick as a first 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 said, of all the golfers alive right now, Xander is the closest to completing the career grand slam,” Colgan stated. “And then he looked at me after he said that, with a smile, and said, ‘How about that?’”

How about that, certainly.

Schauffele and his friends have an extended look ahead to the subsequent main take a look at at the Masters in 2025. Before that, we have now the Olympics, the FedEx Cup and the Presidents Cup to take pleasure in. But for these of us intrigued by Stefan Schauffele’s prediction, the countdown to Augusta begins … now.

To watch a video of the GOLF’s workforce full Sunday expertise at the Open, take a look at the video above. You also can view the “Seen & Heard” sequence in its entirety on YouTube 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 can out-hustle them in the workplace, too, the place she’s primarily liable for producing each print and on-line options, and overseeing main particular initiatives, corresponding to GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview sequence, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in each in the journal and in video type on GOLF.com.