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Sets lowest to par scoring record as he captures first major
Xander Schauffele got the Major monkey off his back, for so long the highest ranked golfer without a title to his name. As the Sun set on the 106th PGA Championship, Xander Shauffele deserved to be crowned champion claiming glory and honour before the golfing gods at Valhalla; where the quality and close competitiveness of the field delighted the vast swathes of spectators in the Kentucky sunshine. In a four day festival of birdies, Schauffele led or co-led wire-to-wire.
"It's been a while since I've won. I really didn't want to go into a playoff with Bryson'"
"This is my opportunity. Just go capture it"
Some of the biggest names in golf, including the European quartet of Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland, Robert MacIntyre and Justin Rose had put themselves in contention heading into this final round but Schauffele continued to hold his nerve while his opponents ran out of momentum.
Collin Morikawa, his closest competitor for the first three rounds, as well as Lowry and MacIntyre failed to stay the course with DeChambeau and Hovland emerging as Schauffele's closest challengers.
Bryson Dechambeau carded a 64, with his birdie putt at 18 just having enough gas and catching enough of the lip to drop in to move him to -20 for the tournament (68,65,67,64) and a tie of the lead with Schauffele. His big-bombing style, along with ever more refined hands in the short-game, quelling some of the suggestion that LIV Golf is not providing a serious enough environment to remain at golf's highest table.
Xander Schauffele's drive at 18 narrowly avoided the fairway bunker, but gave him an awkward stance; ball out, feet in. He struck a solid long iron, to leave an up and down for birdie and a one stroke victory. He managed to leave the ball below the hole after a neat and tidy pitch for a straight-ish seven-footer. The putt caught enough of the left-hand side of the hole to secure his first major victory and the Wanamaker Trophy. In so doing, he also set the lowest winning score to par in Majors history at -21.
Major attention will now move to Pinehurst next month and the staging of the US Open Pinehurst where Wyndham Clark defends. He'll go into that having missed the cut at both preceding Majors.
