Five months ago Xander Schauffele was just another guy on the PGA Tour who earned his card at last year’s Web.com finals. He was just another struggling rookie, trying to find his way on the PGA Tour, hoping to play well enough to keep his card.
On Sunday, the “X-Man” putted his way to the biggest win and the biggest payday of his young career.
His life had already changed for the better with his July victory at The Greenbrier. But that was small potatoes in the realm of the FedEx Cup finals and the Tour Championship.
“I weaseled my way in (the top 30), I weaseled my way around all year,” said the likeable Californian who outplayed the best in the world Sunday at East Lake to bag the Tour Championship. In the process, he collected a $1,575,000 first place check and the finish earned him enough points to finish third in the overall FedEx Cup and that came with a $2,000,000 bonus.
“I had no idea,” Schauffele said, when he was told about the FedEx bonus money. “My day just got a little better.”
Call it fantasy golf at its finest. “Absolutely not,” the X-man was quick to declare when asked if he could have imagined a year like the one he just completed. “This is all a dream for me.”
That dream came true thanks to a lot of clutch shots over the final round and some great putts over the final nine holes at East Lake.
Schauffele came to the final hole at 11-under par, tied with PGA champ Justin Thomas. He needed a birdie to win. He promptly crushed a 347-yard drive, dead center of the fairway. Then from 219 out, left himself a routine chip from just short of the green. He putted inside two feet then nearly missed the winner. He hit it firm, it caught the left edge, dipped into the hole, tried to get out, came almost 360 degrees before it fell back into the hole.
“I saw Brooks (Koepka) tap his in and I thought I’d just brush it in,” Schauffele recalled. “I thought I missed it, it was embarrassing.”
There was nothing embarrassing about his closing 68 and winning 12-under par total.
He was a shot better than Thomas, two-shot better than third place finishers Russell Henley and Kevin Kisner.
Overnight leader Paul Casey had yet another fourth-round failure. Casey wasn’t sharp early, never got his round going and would finish with a 73 and solo fifth.
