Xander Schauffele sends clear message to wife after getting rid of all his golf trophies
Xander Schauffele may be one of golf's most recent serial winners, yet the star has confessed that storing all his silverware is actually an afterthought for him. Schauffele will take to The Open championship at Royal Portrush this week as the defending champion.
The 31-year-old claimed his second major at Royal Troon last summer, taking temporary ownership of the famous Claret Jug. As well as his two majors, which includes a PGA Championship also won in 2024, he also claimed the Tour Championship in his rookie season and even earned an Olympic gold medal at Tokyo in 2021.
Yet Schauffele is not a hoarder, even eschewing the temptation to hoist his trophies on display. He has even aimed a message at his wife, Maya, who chose to decorate their house with some of the golf star's most valuable trinkets, claiming he would rather see exhibits of motivation around his home, rather than fossils of events he has already conquered.
"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 recently said to The Washington Post.
Schauffele, who finished runner-up at The Masters in 2019, added: "I have to get a ladder now, and it bothers me. If anything, put up me in a Masters jacket, like that would p*** me off, you know what I mean? Something like that is more motivating."
The PGA Tour star says that his parents are actually in possession of all his trophies, such is his indifference to them, and that his esteemed array of jugs and garlands are "probably in a bank vault." On the prize every athlete dreams about, his Olympic gold medal, the golfer said: "I actually have no idea where that is, to be completely honest."
If Schauffele's resistance to celebrating himself seems self flagellating or even ungrateful, it's far from it. It's simply one of the game's current greats engineering a way to get himself back onto the course, as hungry as ever.
"What am I going to do with it? [the trophies] 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."
Instead, Schauffele says he would prefer photos of his dog on the wall, or perhaps a clock, adding: "I'm always late, so maybe a clock would be good for me."
Celebrating the wins is often the foundation of any sport, but there's a fine line between dining out on your past to the point you forget to lay the table for your future, something Schauffele is keen to underscore. "I really want to keep my head down and keep charging," he added.
There's no doubt that 2024 was a banner year for the San Diego-born star. Yet while he opened major season this year with a top-10 finish at the Masters, he has been pretty anonymous ever since - with Augusta representing his only top-10 finish in any event all year.
He now looks to banish half a year of frustrating form and niggling injuries to make a mark at Royal Portrush. "I've never successfully defended any tournament that I've won in the past, so I'm very much looking forward to it,' he said.
"If I could do it at a major, especially The Open, it would be really incredible. I was just told we have a record attendance in Portrush, and for obvious reasons. If I can use it to my advantage to sort of cruise along and fly under the radar, that's exactly what I'll do." The Open Championship gets underway on Thursday, July 17.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
15 minutes ago
- The Sun
Tommy Fleetwood in furious X-rated reaction to ‘awful' bad luck after caddie blunder following major rule change at Open
TOMMY FLEETWOOD dropped an X-rated reaction after suffering an "awful" stroke of bad luck after a shock caddie blunder. The Englishman, 34, laboured to a two-over opening round of 73 at The 153rd Open at Portrush. 4 But he was undone by a cruel moment - thanks to another player's bag man. Fleetwood tried to drive the green on the par 4 fifth hole on Thursday. But instead his ball found the fairway bunker down the right side - about 40 yards short of the pin. And on-course broadcaster Jim 'Bones' Mackay revealed the extra bad news for Fleetwood. The experienced caddie said: "I'm not sure I have ever seen this before at a professional golf event. "Whoever played from this bunker previously forgot to rake it, the caddie did. "Tommy now has an awful lie, lucky to avoid the footprints that were made by the previous player." The R&A made a major rule change for this year's Championship. Rather than having bunker marshals with each group, the organisers have given the responsibility of raking bunkers to caddies after their players have gone in. But one caddie had clearly not done their job - as there were footmarks and messy sand in the bunker. Thankfully, Fleetwood's ball avoided landing in one of the divots but he was still understandably furious. He was overheard raging: "For f***'s sake, man. F***." Given the lie, Paul McGinley actually thought Fleetwood got away with one - and it could easily have been a lot worse. He told the USA Network: "What a break for Tommy. "I don't know what the rule is for the R&A, but certainly on the DP World Tour that caddie would be getting a big fine. 'Obviously it wasn't done on purpose - it was a mistake for the caddie." Fleetwood just about dug the ball out at the first attempt - unlike poor Shaun Norris who took FOUR shots to get out of a bunker on Friday - but it clipped the lip and plopped just six yards out and in the rough. From there, the world No13 chipped past the hole and missed his 33ft par putt to make a bogey five. Sypathetic Mackay added: 'After what he's been through on this hole you can't help but root for Tommy a little bit here to maybe get this one to go. "Just an awful break, one of the worst I've seen the entire year for him.' Fleetwood was asked about the incident after his round and was clearly still frustrated - but refused to hit out at the caddie to blame. He moaned: "It wasn't a great rake job. "First thing is I was not very happy to be in there. That was the first thing, so that's my fault. "But yeah, things weren't going well. It was like in somebody's hitting mark that hadn't really been raked great. "I probably could have managed it better. I tried to hit what I thought was the right shot — like kind of duff something because I knew I couldn't get any sort of strike perched on the ball — so I tried to duff it, but then you've got to get the height as well. So that was a bit harsh. "I mean, still, you just rake the bunkers, right? It's part of the game. "I'm not going to hold it against anyone too much. You don't know what was going on, you don't know what was happening in that moment. "I'm not going to get angry about anyone where you don't know what's happening, but it wasn't great, and yeah, bunker rakers would have been nice." 4 4
Leader Live
19 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Rory McIlroy's roller-coaster Open continues into second round at Royal Portrush
The Northern Irishman, from an hour down the road in Holywood, began the day three off the lead on one under but had to work hard just to maintain that score through his front nine. But by the time he turned in a level-par 36 – after two birdies and two bogeys – the gap to the top had stretched to five as 2023 champion Brian Harman had taken advantage of good scoring conditions to reach six under. The roar for Rory. He starts with a birdie. — The Open (@TheOpen) July 18, 2025 McIlroy, last in the field for driving accuracy on Thursday after hitting just two fairways, struggled to recalibrate his radar but that did not prevent him making birdie at the first from 18 feet from the semi-rough. However, he was a foot from driving out of bounds at the par-five next and had to take an unplayable lie and eventually chipped to seven feet to save par. The 176-yard third caused him problems as his tee shot caught the bank of a bunker, forcing him to stand in the sand and choke down halfway on the shaft of his wedge with his ball well above him and that resulted in a bogey. A 348-yard drive and approach to six feet brought a birdie at the next but the driveable par-four fifth caused him problems after pulling his three-wood into a bunker, which produced the response 'Don't go in there. Idiot.' Another bogey followed and despite hammering a 372-yard drive down the par-five seventh he came up short with his approach, chipped to nine feet but missed the birdie attempt. He missed fairways at eight and nine, meaning he found only one over his outward half, and it cost him scoring opportunities. That was not the case for Harman, beginning the day two under, who had three birdies in 10 holes, to hold a one-shot lead over Rasmus Hojgaard and England's Tyrrell Hatton, who could consider himself unfortunate to only be two under through 10 holes of his round. His Ryder Cup team-mates Robert MacIntyre and Justin Rose were in the pack on three under; the Scot bogey-free in carding three birdies on his front nine and Englishman Rose, runner up at the Masters and last year's Open, dropping his first shot of the tournament at the par-three sixth in an outward one-under 35.
The Herald Scotland
42 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Rory McIlroy's roller-coaster Open continues into second round at Royal Portrush
But by the time he turned in a level-par 36 – after two birdies and two bogeys – the gap to the top had stretched to five as 2023 champion Brian Harman had taken advantage of good scoring conditions to reach six under. The roar for Rory. He starts with a birdie. — The Open (@TheOpen) July 18, 2025 McIlroy, last in the field for driving accuracy on Thursday after hitting just two fairways, struggled to recalibrate his radar but that did not prevent him making birdie at the first from 18 feet from the semi-rough. However, he was a foot from driving out of bounds at the par-five next and had to take an unplayable lie and eventually chipped to seven feet to save par. The 176-yard third caused him problems as his tee shot caught the bank of a bunker, forcing him to stand in the sand and choke down halfway on the shaft of his wedge with his ball well above him and that resulted in a bogey. A 348-yard drive and approach to six feet brought a birdie at the next but the driveable par-four fifth caused him problems after pulling his three-wood into a bunker, which produced the response 'Don't go in there. Idiot.' Another bogey followed and despite hammering a 372-yard drive down the par-five seventh he came up short with his approach, chipped to nine feet but missed the birdie attempt. He missed fairways at eight and nine, meaning he found only one over his outward half, and it cost him scoring opportunities. Rory McIlroy's waywardness cost him birdie opportunities on the second day at The Open (Peter Byrne/PA) That was not the case for Harman, beginning the day two under, who had three birdies in 10 holes, to hold a one-shot lead over Rasmus Hojgaard and England's Tyrrell Hatton, who could consider himself unfortunate to only be two under through 10 holes of his round. His Ryder Cup team-mates Robert MacIntyre and Justin Rose were in the pack on three under; the Scot bogey-free in carding three birdies on his front nine and Englishman Rose, runner up at the Masters and last year's Open, dropping his first shot of the tournament at the par-three sixth in an outward one-under 35.
