Forget Scheffler! Xander Schauffele is the best in the world after winning The Open

Despite Scottie Scheffler’s consistent brilliance, he hasn’t won two majors in the same year yet.

Xander Schauffele has. He is The Open winner two months after breaking through on the major scene at the PGA Championship.

The last player to collect two major trophies in the same year was Brooks Koepka in 2018. His victories in the US Open and the PGA marked a period of dominance playing in golf’s big four tournaments.

Rory McIlroy did the same in 2014 when he won The Open and the PGA, as Schauffele has now. McIlroy was regarded as untouchable in that window of excellence. A bizarre preceding decade of near misses has meant he’s not won a fifth major title.

Jordan Spieth won the Masters and the US Open in 2015, and Schauffele should be held in the same regard as these players who stand among their peers as the best in their generation. He will to me.

Schauffele is untouchable right now. It is not normal to complete a major double in the same season, I don’t think this achievement can be understated. Scheffler is the World No.1 and will be when the Official World Golf Rankings are updated, but it’s no secret the value of that ranking hasn’t been the same since the emergence of LIV Golf.

I won’t shrink into that debate.

Xander Schauffele-Scottie Scheffler comparison can only fall on one side

I’ve lost count of the times a player has won the Masters and I’ve retreated to a group chat to say, ‘They could win a few majors this year’. Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama. They never did and that isn’t to their detriment. It speaks to the brilliance of Schauffele who I can’t help but sit back and applaud.

This was Schauffele’s day at The Open at Royal Troon. He made four spell-binding birdies on the back nine to seize the Claret Jug from Justin Rose, Thriston Lawrence, and Billy Horschel. They were playing the role of understudy while Schauffele waited in the wings to pounce from behind the curtain.

Starting the day on three-under and one shot behind Horschel, I would never have predicted the winning score could be nine-under. But if someone told me it was, my eyes would immediately dart to Schauffele as the main contender. He is a birdie machine which he showed when he outscored a rampant Bryson DeChambeau in Kentucky in May winning the race to 21-under-par. DeChambeau went on to win the US Open at Pinehurst.

I asked Schauffele in his winner’s press conference if he now regarded himself as one of the best of his generation. He passed the responsibility back to me:

“I don’t really think that way, I guess. I think the guys in the States sort of know how these pressers go. Pretty much that’s you guys’ job to speculate on those things,” he said with a smile.

“I’m just trying to win as many of these things as I can and play the best golf as I can and be a decent guy. So I’ll let you ponder that one.”

I’m happy with that Xander. You’ve joined an exclusive club of multiple major champions. You are an Olympic gold medalist, a Ryder Cup winner, a Genesis Scottish Open winner and you haven’t exited the top 10 of the world ranking since the 150th Open at St Andrews.

Scheffler is great. He is amazing. He has won six times this year and accumulated over $70 million in prize money since 2020.

But with two majors in 2024, X marks the spot. Schauffele is the man at the top of the podium with Scheffler and the rest peering upwards.

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Final Open Championship Leaderboard

-9 X Schauffele

-7 J Rose, B Horschel

-6 T Lawrence

-5 R Henley

-4 S Lowry

-1 J Rahm, S Im, S Scheffler

E M Jordan, A Scott, D Brown

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