YOKOHAMA, Japan — Xander Schauffele picked up another meaningful prize in Japan, this one a PGA Tour tournament trophy instead of an Olympic gold medal, capping a frustrated year marked by injury and some doubt.
Schauffele birdied the 17th hole Sunday and closed with a 7-under-par 64 to hold off fellow American golfer Max Greyserman and win the Baycurrent Classic. It caps a year in which Schauffele missed two months with a rib injury and failed to reach the season-ending Tour Championship for the first time in his career.
“This is really special for me — sooner than I thought, to be fair,” the 31-year-old San Diego native said. “I was running out of events in 2025 to sort of put my mark on it. I’m sure when I look back on 2025 at the end of my career, I’ll smile and think it was a great year.”
It was a great year off the course: His wife gave birth to their first child, Victor, in late August. But it was a struggle to regain his form after missing two months at the start of the year, coming off a 2024 season in which he won the PGA Championship and British Open for his first major championships.
And it was only fitting that he won in Japan, where his mother and mother-in-law were raised.
Schauffele finished the 72-hole tournament at Yokohama Country Club at 19-under 265, one shot ahead of Greyserman (65), who also was the runner-up at this event a year ago and is still chasing his PGA Tour breakthrough at age 30.
Greyserman fell two shots behind when Schauffele made a birdie on the 17th hole. Needing to hole out from 190 yards to have any chance, Greyserman hit a 7-iron, and the ball settled a few inches from the cup to leave him a tap-in birdie.
Schauffele’s biggest win in Japan was the Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021, though he had no support in the gallery back then because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
His maternal grandparents live in Japan. His mother was born in Taiwan and grew up in Japan. His wife’s mother grew up in Japan’s southern island of Okinawa.
“I’ve been coming here since I was about 9 years old to visit my grandparents,” Schauffele said. “I sort of fell in love with this country a long time ago. I can’t wait to bring my son here when he’s old enough to sort of understand and appreciate the culture here in Japan.”
Added Schauffele: “Yeah, the ties run deep for the Schauffele family here in Japan.”
Schauffele was cheered during the tournament by multiple family members, including his 81-year-old grandmother who walked the course with him. He said there would probably be a get-together with family members later to celebrate.
“I mean, I don’t get to see them very often, and they’ve always been gracious with their time to come out wherever the event was,” he said. “They’ve been awesome to me, and this is pretty cool. I’ve really wanted to share a win with them, so can’t wait to get together with them.”
He was looking forward to sharing the celebration with even more family back in the U.S., even if Victor isn’t old enough to understand what all the fuss is about.
“It’s definitely a cool thing being a dad,” Schauffle said, “and I’m so excited to go home to him and Maya after this.”
Greyserman, who held or shared the lead through the first three rounds, finished two strokes ahead of Michael Thorbjornsen (64) as Americans took the top three spots on the final leaderboard.
Japan’s Takumi Kanayi closed with a 62 to share fourth place at 14 under with Rico Hoey (63) of the Philippines, South Africa’s Garrick Higgo (66), South Korea’s Byeong Hun An (66) and American player Alex Smalley (64). Chile’s Nico Echavarria (67), who the 2024 edition of this tournament, finished ninth at 13 under.
The four-way tie for 10th place at 11 under included Chattanooga native Keith Mitchell, with the Baylor School graduate closing with a 63.
Soft conditions and very little wind led to low scoring Sunday. Matt McCarty shot a 60 — with a lost tee shot on the American player’s final hole as he hit into the trees and had to settle for a bogey — and still finished nine strokes back, tied for 14th.
“One swing away from a 58,” McCarty said. “It’s a tough way to finish a really good day.”
Penge reigns in Spain via playoff
MADRID — Marco Penge defeated fellow English player Daniel Brown in a playoff to win the DP World Tour’s Open de España and secure a spot in two major championship tournaments next year, with the 27-year-old heading for the first time to the Masters and for the fourth time to the British Open, where he missed the cut in 2022, 2023 and 2025.
In the final round at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, Penge relinquished a four-shot lead but came out on top with a birdie on the first playoff hole, securing his third win this year on the Europe-based tour. Penge won the Hainan Classic in April for his first career victory on the circuit, then triumphed again at the Danish Golf Championship in August.
Brown closed with a 4-under 67 and Penge shot a 72 to finish 72 holes of regulation at 15-under 269, with Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach (69) finishing a stroke out of the playoff after starting the day four shots out of the lead.
“Dan and Joel played great today — they were holing putts and I just couldn’t really get it in the hole; it felt like I was really up against it,” Penge said. “But I felt like I managed myself really well, and I actually think tee to green, I feel like I played really solid. It doesn’t matter the putts, I think I used them all yesterday, but obviously holing that one there was worth the wait.”
It was the first time Spain’s national open offered the winner an automatic spot in the Masters and the British Open.
“It’s crazy,” Penge said about playing in the Masters next April at Augusta National. “It’s a golf course that I’ve always wanted to play, because I feel like my game sets up really good for it.”
Brown, whose 31st birthday was on Saturday, started five shots back but made a run despite dealing with a right shoulder ailment that required treatment during the back nine. He forced a playoff with a birdie on the final hole.
Two-time major champion Jon Rahm, the LIV Golf League champion from Spain who was seeking a record fourth win in this event, wasn’t really in contention at the start of the final round, but the 30-year-old closed with a 6-under 65 and tied for ninth.
LPGA: Quite a comeback
SHANGHAI — Jeeno Thitikul came from four shots down with five holes to play to force a playoff with Minami Katsu, and the 22-year-old from Thailand produced another extraordinary shot on the fifth playoff hole at Qizhong Garden Golf Club to win the LPGA Shanghai tournament.
Thitikul, who is No. 1 in the Women’s World Golf Rankings, earned the sixth win of her LPGA Tour career, and it made her the first player this year to win twice on the U.S.-based circuit. Shanghai was the first of five consecutive events in the tour’s Asian swing this fall.
Thitikul’s closing 9-under 63 was Sunday’s low round and included seven birdies and an eagle. Her 24-under 264 total for 72 holes of regulation play closed the gap on what had appeared to be a comfortable margin for 54-hole leader Katsu, who had started the day two shots ahead and extended that to four after the 13th hole.
Thitikul stalked Katsu with birdies on the 14th, 15th and 16th, then followed with an incredible eagle as the ball bounced along the mottled 17th green before going in to pull her even.
Katsu responded with a birdie on the hole, but with another birdie chance on the 18th to claw back the victory, the ball slid past. She closed out a 65, setting up the playoff.
Pars for both players through the first four playoff holes, rotated between the 18th and the 10th, included Katsu having two birdie putts to win only to narrowly miss the hole on both.
On the fifth playoff hole, the deadlock was broken as a brilliant approach by Thitikul placed the ball three feet away, while Katsu’s second shot fell short of the green at the par-4 18th.
Katsu’s chip as she went for a birdie was impressive but missed, leaving Thitikul a simple birdie putt to close out a remarkable victory nearly two years after losing in an epic nine-hole playoff to France’s Celine Boutier at the LPGA Malaysia tournament.
It was Thitikul’s second win of the season, with her first at the Mizuho Americas Open in May, and it helped ease the disappointment of her inexplicable four-putt meltdown on the final hole at the Queen City Championship last month.
Australia’s Minjee Lee, who won her third major title with a victory at the Women’s PGA Championship in June, closed with a 68 as her challenge faded through the middle part of the round. She finished alone in third at 19 under.
Three golfers shared fourth at 17 under: American player Jenny Bae (69), South Korea’s Somi Lee (69) and Japan’s Miyu Yamashita (67).
Champions: Cejka denies Els
CARY, N.C. — Alex Cejka birdied his final two holes for a 1-under 71 to turn a tight lead into a three-shot victory over Ernie Els in the SAS Championship.
The 54-year-old German won for the fourth time in his PGA Tour Champions career, but this was his first victory that was not a major championship tournament on the 50-and-older circuit.
Els closed with a 68 to put some pressure on Cejka on the last day at Prestonwood Country Club, but he never wavered, denying the 55-year-old South African what would have been his seventh career win on the senior tour and his second of the season.
Cejka finished the 54-hole event at 9-under 207 and moved to No. 10 in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup standings. Els stayed at No. 4 as the PGA Tour Champions moves into its three-tournament postseason.
New Zealand’s Steven Alker closed with a 68 and finished third at 4 under, a stroke ahead of Sweden’s Robert Karlsson (72) and American players Steve Flesch and Tim O’Neal, who each shot a 71.
Bernhard Langer played in the final group and started three shots behind, but he closed with a 75 and finished at 2 under as part of a six-way tie for seventh place. The 68-year-old German has won every year since becoming eligible for the senior tour in 2007, but Langer is still seeking a first win in 2025 that would also be the record-extending 48th of his PGA Tour Champions career.
Next stop: PGA Tour
FRENCH LICK, Ind. — Chandler Blanchet birdied his opening three holes of the final round on the way to a closing 6-under 66 as he won the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, making the 20-year-old Floridian one of 20 players on the developmental circuit who earned PGA Tour cards for 2026.
Blanchet finished 72 holes at 14-under 274, two strokes ahead of runner-up Barend Botha of South Africa, who closed with a 70. Neal Shipley (70) and Joe Weiler (67) shared third place at 11 under.
There was little drama at French Lick Resort on the final day of the Korn Ferry Tour season with 20 PGA Tour cards at stake, down from 30 cards awarded a year ago. No one moved into the top 20, with Sweden’s Pontus Nyholm finishing at No. 20 with room to spare.
Botha came into the week at No. 54 and had to win to move into the top 20. He had the 54-hole lead and was one behind playing the 17th when he failed to save par from short of the green.
Johnny Keefer tied for 12th but finished atop the points list. He will have full status all of next year on the PGA Tour and earns a spot in the 126th U.S. Open next June at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York.