The American won with a birdie on the last hole to avoid a playoff with his compatriot DeChambeau
MADRID, 20 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
American golfer Xander Schauffele won the PGA Championship this Sunday, held in its 106th edition at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville (Kentucky), United States, thanks to a winning birdie on the last hole.
Schauffele, Olympic gold in Tokyo 2020, signed the eighth victory on the North American circuit, although he had not won a title for two years, and won the first ‘Grand Slam’ of his record, after being in the top ten twelve times since 2017 .
The American, current number three in the world ranking, was considered one of the best players in the world without the icing on the cake of a ‘major’, but in Valhalla he took the lead on the first day and came out on top every day until celebrating a spectacular victory.
After Saturday, the top fifteen players on the table were within five shots. Schauffele withstood the pressure and signed a Sunday of six under par, for a total of -21. His biggest rival ended up being Bryson DeChambeau, a LIV Golf striker who made his last birdie also on the 18th to go -20.
Schauffele had made birdies on 11 and 12 to keep Viktor Hovland at bay, but the Norwegian missed where DeChambeau became the biggest contender, that 18th hole where he had already said goodbye with an eagle on Saturday. The leader had to save par in the 17th, after visiting a bunker, and in the last he did not fail.
The number three in the world left another ‘approach’ and ‘putt’, of about two meters, feasible, although this time the most important of his career. Schauffele made the birdie with a half-tie of the ball on the edge of the hole and won with an uncontrollable laugh knowing how close he came to risking it in a playoff with DeChambeau.
The Belgian Thomas Detry was fourth, six shots behind, while the American Collin Morikawa, who started as co-leader, fell to that tied fourth position, unable to birdie Valhalla until it was no longer of any use, at the 18th. The world number one, Scottie Scheffler, had a good farewell, despite not competing for victory, with 65 strokes to enter the ‘Top 10’.
The Texan was also a protagonist this week, although not for adding the PGA to his Augusta Masters or adding his fifth victory in six tournaments in 2024, but for his police arrest in the early hours of Friday, after skipping a control in the middle of a tragic golf preview with the death of a tournament worker.