Xander Schauffele has eight big wins and no trophies to show for it

Associated Press

2 days ago

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (AP) — Don't feel bad for Xander Schauffele having to return the claret jug when he arrived at Royal Portrush to defend his title in the British Open. It's not like he had anywhere to keep it.
Schauffele has won eight times in his PGA Tour career. That includes two majors, the British Open and the PGA Championship. It includes the Tour Championship in his rookie season. And it includes the Olympic gold medal from Tokyo in 2021.
Where to keep it all? Not at his house. Schauffele said his parents keep all his trophies, 'probably in a bank vault.' They have a home in San Diego, and his father is building a place on Kauai, living in what Stefan Schauffele calls 'the container.'
The gold medal?
'I actually have no idea where that is, to be completely honest,' Schauffele said.
It's not all that surprising considering how simple Schauffele and his wife prefer to live. He celebrates a little more than Scottie Scheffler, but much like the world's No. 1 player, it's on to the next tournament to start over.
'What am I going to do with it? I don't really invite people over to my house. Am I just going to go look at it myself?' he said. 'I don't want to walk into a trophy room like, 'Look how great I am.' I was just raised to think that way, and it's kind of stuck.'
That begs the question: What is on the shelves of their Florida home if not trophies?
'My wife hung up some pictures of me in my gym of me winning the Olympic medal, and she put it so high up I can't reach it,' Schauffele said. 'I have to get a ladder now, and it bothers me. If anything, put up me in a Masters jacket, like that would piss me off, you know what I mean? Something like that is more motivating.'
If it were up to Schauffele, he would hang photos of his dogs. Or nothing. Maybe a clock.
'I'm always late, so maybe a clock would be good for me,' he said.
He said Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley has told him to be sure to enjoy big wins, and Schauffele figures he will do that at some point.
'But right now I really want to keep my head down and keep charging,' he said.
Doral in the mix?
Sports Business Journal is reporting that Doral might be back on the PGA Tour schedule for the first time since the tour left it for Mexico in 2017.
It cited industry sources as saying the PGA Tour plans to add the new tournament that would be April 30-May 3, which ordinarily would be a spot occupied by the Mexico Open.
A PGA Tour spokesman said no such deal had been signed.
The first part of the 2026 schedule already has some tweaks that include Pebble Beach and Riviera being in consecutive weeks in February, and the Nelson and Colonial in Texas being held in consecutive weeks for the first time since 2018.
Getting Doral back on the schedule would be a shot across the bow for Saudi-funded LIV Golf, which has held events at Trump Doral every year since it launched in 2022. It is one of the few courses on the LIV schedule that general golf fans know.
Sports Business Journal reported earlier that Doral is no the LIV schedule for 2026.
For years, Doral was the lead event on the Florida swing that had one of the strongest fields. It was turned into a World Golf Championship in 2006. But then President Donald Trump bought the resort, and the PGA Tour had trouble attracting a title sponsor. One reason was the company would be overshadowed by Trump's presence.
A return could signal Trump warming to the PGA Tour. He stepped into negotiations between the tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia — which funds LIV Golf — in February. The two sides could not agree to an investment deal.
LIV and OWGR
LIV Golf has applied again to be part of the Official World Golf Ranking system. Still to be determined is whether the application mentions any changes.
The OWGR denied LIV in October 2023. At issue was not the 54-hole events or not having cuts, but the closed shop of only 54 players in the league who stayed the same all year, with minimal ways for anyone to join.
Bryson DeChambeau wants to see LIV get ranking points. He doesn't know what LIV will do, but he suggested that more relegation — players losing their spots with poor play — and more paths to LIV would be a start. Currently only one player gets in through its qualifier, and another comes off the Asian Tour (if he's not already on LIV).
'I think a global tour, more association to a global tour, would be great for a feeder system into LIV,' DeChambeau said. 'Those things, I think, could help quite a bit.'
DeChambeau at No. 15 is the only LIV player among the top 20 in the world ranking. Majors rely on the world ranking to fill their fields, and the heads of all four majors are on the OWGR that voted down LIV's last application.
'I think it's big for us to have these players that are just jumping onboard still collect points,' DeChambeau said. 'They are deserving of it. They're playing some incredible golf every week, and I think having a system in place for us as players would benefit the ecosystem of the game tremendously, especially for fans.'
Scottie Scheffler also believes it is important to rank all the golfers in the world. He just found it hard to do on different leagues, comparing it with measuring college golfers who played mostly on the West Coast with those who played on the East Coast, rarely together.
'The more often we can get the best players in the world playing together would be better, and that would only be better for the rankings as well,' he said.
Divots
Padraig Harrington of Ireland, a three-time major champion, has been selected to hit the opening tee shot at the British Open. Also in the first group is Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland, who decided to join LIV Golf this year. Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland hit the opening tee shot at Royal Portrush in 2019. ... There are 48 Americans in the field at the British Open, compared with 90 American in the field at the U.S. Open. ... The British Open has 37 players making their debut in the championship. ... Hannah Darling of Scotland will make her pro debut next week in the ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open. Darling played on three Curtis Cup teams.
Stat of the week
Max Homa was No. 15 in the world when he played the British Open last year. He is No. 101 in the world this year and playing the Barracuda Championship in California.
Final word
'Playing professional sports is a really weird thing to do. It really is. Just because we put in so much effort, we work so hard for something that's so fleeting. It really is. The feeling of winning just doesn't last that long.' — Scottie Scheffler.
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