Xander Schauffele reveals how Scottish Open snoozes can help him slay 'scary' Rory McIlroy at Portrush

Daily Record

23-04-2025

The American defends the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush this summer and The Renaissance will again be key to his preparations
Xander Schauffele says Scottish Open sleeps can energise him to slay terrifying and Tiger-like Rory McIlroy.
The current Champion Golfer will face a home tidal wave as the Grand Slam-winning home hero attempts to rip the trophy off him at Royal Portrush.
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Schauffele won the Claret Jug last summer and cited his week at The Renaissance as key to the Troon triumph.
The 2022 Scottish Open winner is set for a July return to East Lothian and says it'll be vital again to prepare for an epic battle with Scary McIlroy, who will be backed by 278,000 passionate fans in his own backyard the following week.
Schauffele said: 'Playing in the Scottish Open is a must for someone like me. Just getting enough good nights of sleep, getting on the time zone, learning what it's like to actually play in wind again.
'Every Open is unique. Every venue is unique. I was just told we have record attendance [at Portrush], for obvious reasons. One of their own just won the Grand Slam, so everyone wants to get a piece of him.
'It's incredible for the game of golf. There's no other way to put it, to be honest.
'Just any time he's on-site. No-one is going to be like Tiger [Woods], but I'd call Rory and the likes of Scottie [Scheffler] a close second if you just look at how many people following them, how many people talk about them, anything to get eyeballs on our game is a good thing.
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'And him winning the Masters, a generational talent to do what he did, is obviously an incredible achievement. Scary for guys like us. If that was something that was holding him back and now he feels free, that could be a pretty scary thing.
'If he's firing on all cylinders, I've played against him when he's done it and it's not fun for me. It's fun for everyone else to watch, but it's definitely a thing that's hard to beat.
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'Would I be surprised if he started rattling some off? No. Am I going to be there to try and stop him? Absolutely. I've never defended successfully any tournament that I've won in the past. If I could do it at a major, especially The Open, it would be really incredible.
'If I can use it [attention on Rory] to my advantage to sort of cruise along and fly under the radar, that's exactly what I'll do.'
Schauffele is halfway to his own Grand Slam with The Open success coming on the back of a USPGA Championship victory at Valhalla. He said: 'It's something that's been written down a long time ago and something I think every golfer should try and achieve.
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'There's a reason there's only been six of them to ever do it, but until last year, it felt like it was impossible almost. After a year like last year, it definitely lets a young pro like myself dream a little bit more again.
'It's something I definitely look forward to challenging myself to accomplish in my career.'
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Naturally, Schauffele's Troon memories are vivid, yet not all wildly pleasant as he smiled: 'I remember a lot of the shots. I was playing really well and that front nine into the right-to-left wind coming off the ocean there, you're just kind of holding on and surviving. 11 is terrifying.
'You always have like a 15-minute wait on that tee with the train coming by, people sitting there staring at you. It's raining. You're just looking at gorse everywhere. 12, again, straight into the teeth, gorse bushes right, left.
'Luckily, Troon is a nice place to go to 18 where you can hit an iron off the tee. You can favour that right side, take a little bit of stress off you.
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'I'm from San Diego where it blows a blistering 3 miles an hour. When I think of Open Championship golf, I don't think of it being sunny. I think of people wearing beanies hunkering down, trying everything they can with their caddie to overcome that war that you're at with the golf course.
'It's such a validating and rewarding feeling to do it. I've got no problem if it's bad weather.'
Schauffele will take the Jug back to the R&A at Portrush, but he's barely seen it since winning it with his dad having hold of it.
Tequila has still been consumed out of it, though, as he said: 'It's in good hands in the care of my parents as of right now. I don't drink too much. My dad definitely consumes a lot more wine than I do. He's got some good friends to enjoy it with. I hate to say it, but I've had wine, of course, and then I've had tequila out of it as well.'