LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Every step Xander Schauffele took Sunday toward becoming a major champion brought small reminders that it was never going to be easy.
It wasn’t just Bryson DeChambeau pushing in the PGA Championship until he finally caught Schauffele with a birdie on the last hole at Valhalla Golf Club.
It was the mud on Schauffele’s golf ball after a good drive on the 16th. It was the tee shot on the 17th that kicked back into a bunker instead of forward into the fairway. Needing a birdie on the par-5 18th for the win, he hit what he thought was a good drive until walking up to find it had rolled close enough to a bunker that he couldn’t get a clean shot at the green.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘Man, someone out there is making me earn this right now,'” Schauffele said. “I get up there and just kind of chuckled. I was like, ‘If you want to be a major champion, this is the kind of stuff you have to deal with.'”
There was one other message he preached along the back nine.