Xander Schauffele is one of the top golfers in the world. He’s currently the number two golfer globally and is entering his peak years. We’ve reviewed his achievements and best performances in major events.
Can He Reach the Most Top 5 Finishes in Golf Majors?
It’s unlikely that Schauffele will be able to get the most top 5 finishes in golf majors. Since Jack Nicklaus has 56, time is running out for Xander Schauffele. However, he’s a popular player at crypto sweepstakes casinos, with many people putting him in their predictions, so there’s the belief that he can become one of the best ever.
Current Race to the Top 5 Finishes in Golf Majors
For Schauffele to reach the most top 5 finishes, he would need to hit three top five finishes a year for the next 16 years. Getting close to this record is challenging for him and will require significantly improving his performance.
However, Schauffele won his only two majors in 2024 and finished in the top 10 in one of the other majors of the year. If he can retain this level of consistency and improve slightly, he has a slight chance of achieving Nicklaus’ achievement.
5: 2021 Masters
Schauffele struggled with consistency in the 2021 Masters, which prevented him from winning the tournament. Although he claimed a third-place finish, he was three strokes behind the winner, and it would have taken a significant improvement in his round scores to overtake him.
He started the event with a 72 in his first round. It didn’t even give him a position in the top 10 and instantly meant he had a lot of ground to make up. His second round was a significant improvement, scoring 69. His third round was even better, with a 68 taking him into second place.
However, his inconsistency rose to the surface in the final round in a move that has dogged his career. He scored another 72, which dropped him back to third place. He would have won the tournament if he’d managed a 70 in his first and last rounds. Those are the fine margins Schauffele is working with.
4: 2018 The Open Championship
2018 was only the second year that Schauffele played in a major. Many felt that The Open Championship was his coming out party after he managed to finish in second place. It was an impressive performance from a player still in his mid-20s. However, his lack of consistency in this tournament has been a regular occurrence throughout his career.
In the first round, he scored a 71, which didn’t even get him into the top 20. He hit a 66 in the second round, followed by a 67 in the third round, which put him in joint first position. Unfortunately, his inconsistency reared its head again, and he scored a 74 in the final round.
It gave him a final score of 278, two strokes behind the winner, who had 276. This shows that with more consistency, Schauffele could turn a second-place finish into a win. However, it also revealed that he had the potential to compete with some of the best players in the game, as he finished level with Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose and managed to beat Tiger Woods.
3: 2019 Masters
The 2019 Masters is one of the most significant what-if moments of Schauffele’s career. He finished the event a single stroke behind Tiger Woods, meaning he finished second. However, his first-round score of 73 was the worst among the top four players. With him shooting 65-70-68 after it, his slow start truly cost him what would have been his first major title.
This event showed Schauffele was a player who could compete with the best in the world. Although he didn’t walk away with the winner’s purse, it was a foundation for his substantial success in 2024.
2: 2024 PGA Championship
In 2024, Xander Schauffele won his first major. The PGA Championship is one of the most prestigious events on the calendar, and Xander’s performance was one of the all-time great wins. Not only did he romp home to the trophy, he also set a tournament record of -21.
He started strong, hitting a 62 in the first round, which broke the previous record for the course, 63. His second round wasn’t as strong, with 68, but it was enough to keep him in first place. However, after the third round, another 68 meant Collin Morikawa joined him in joint first on 198.
Schauffele’s final round was slightly stronger, as he scored a 65. While it wasn’t the lowest score of the round, it was enough to win him the tournament with 263.
1: 2024 The Open Championship
After his close call in 2018, Schauffele managed to go all the way in 2024. However, in a similar story to 2018, he didn’t have a solid first round. He scored 69, leaving him in fourth place, four strokes behind first. It wasn’t a good start, leaving him needing strong follow-up rounds and his opponents to drop strokes.
Things worsened in the second round as he shot a 72, dropping him to seventh and six strokes behind first. It wasn’t much better in the third round, shooting another 69. However, the players above struggled, with Shane Lowry, previously in first, shooting a 77. Schauffele went into the final round in second place, a stroke behind first.
He shot his best round of the tournament, scoring 65 for -9 overall. This resulted in his winning the 2024 Open Championship, claiming his second major of his career and the second of 2024.
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