Xander Schauffele

Alexander Victor Schauffele (* October 25, 1993 in San Diego, California) is a US professional golfer who plays on the North American PGA Tour. Since 2015 he has won four tournaments on the PGA Tour and one on the European Tour.

His best major results include a shared 2nd place at the 2018 Open Championship and the 2019 Masters Tournament, and Schauffele won the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics golf tournament in Tokyo.

French-German father, Taiwanese mother.

Xander Schauffele was born to a German-French immigrant father and a Taiwanese immigrant mother. His father, Stefan, has been his only swing coach since the beginning of his golf career.

Schauffele's teaching philosophy relies heavily on basic ball flight laws and golf club mechanics - so Schauffele hadn't found his own swing until he was about 18 years old.

Professional soccer players as ancestors

Two of his great-grandfathers played soccer at higher European levels. Johann Hoffmann played for the Austrian national soccer team and won several national titles, including for SK Rapid Wien.

Richard Schauffele first played soccer for VfB Stuttgart and later collected over 40 titles in the track and field disciplines of discus, javelin and shot put. He was also president of the Stuttgarter Kickers.

Numerous records achieved

After winning the California State High School Championship in 2011 and graduating from high school, he first played for California State University Long Beach and the following year studied at San Diego State University, where he played and set numerous records until the end of his amateur career in 2015.

In 2014, he won the California State Amateur Championship and was ranked in the top 10 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings when he began his professional career in June 2015.

PGA admission narrowly missed

Schauffele played the entire 2016 season on the Web.com Tour after qualifying for it at the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament in 2015. He finished the season in 25th place in the money standings, narrowly missing out on playing eligibility for the PGA Tour next year.

However, he was still able to achieve this at the Web.com Tour Finals by finishing 15th. He made his debut on the PGA Tour at the CareerBuilder Challenge in LaQuinta. In his first round at the 2017 US Open, Schauffele managed a bogey-free 6-under-par 66.

Bogey-free debut round

In doing so, he became the first player in US Open history to post a bogey-free round of 66 or better in his national championship debut.

In addition, Schauffele is one of only 15 players to post a final score of 10-under par or better at a US Open. After a first-round 66, he played rounds of 73-70-69 and finished the tournament in a tie for 5th place, earning him eligibility to play in the 2018 US Open.

First PGA victory

Just three weeks later, on July 9, 2017, Schauffele picked up his first PGA Tour victory at the Greenbrier Classic. He began the final round three strokes behind the leader, Sebastián Muñoz, who had led since the first round.

Schauffele managed a round of 3-under par, giving him the win by one stroke over Robert Streb.

With the win, he earned playing rights to the 2017 Open Championship, 2017 PGA Championship and 2018 Masters Tournament. At the 2017 Tour Championship, Schauffele won by one stroke over Justin Thomas, becoming the first rookie to ever win the Tour Championship.

With the win, Schauffele moved into third place in the final FedEx Cup standings, surpassing the previous best mark by a rookie of Jordan Spieth by four spots.

32nd place in the world rankings

The victory moved Schauffele to 32nd in the world golf rankings, 267 spots higher than he was at the start of the season, and gave him a three-year playing permit on the PGA Tour. Schauffele was named the 2017 Rookie of the Year on Oct. 2, 2017.

In May 2018, Xander Schauffele finished tied for 2nd at the 2018 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass with a 14-under par. At the Open Championship two months later at Carnoustie Golf Links, Schauffele also finished in second place with a score of six under par.

28th overall

He began the 2018 FedEx Cup Playoffs in 28th place overall. He was 41st in the third of four events in the playoff series, the 2018 BMW Championship, and needed to move up at least 11 spots to compete in the Tour Championships.

Schauffele finished in a tie for third place and moved up to 18th. That finish gave him the opportunity to defend his 2017 Tour Championship title. He eventually finished the tournament in 7th place, tied for 15th overall in the FedEx Cup standings.

Victory in Shanghai

On October 28, 2018, Xander Schauffele won the WGC-HSBC Champions event at Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai, China on the first playoff hole, defeating Tony Finau.

Schauffele joined the European Tour in 2018 as an associate member. With his victory at the 2018 WGC-HSBC Champions, Schauffele moved up to 4th place in the European Tour's Order of Merit, the year-long points race known as the European Tour Race to Dubai.

16th place in Dubai

Schauffele entered the European Tour's final event, the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, in 5th place. Schauffele finished in 16th place with a final round score of 6-under par 66, which secured him a fourth place finish on the Order of Merit to close out the season.

On Jan. 6, 2019, Schauffele won the Sentry Tournament of Champions on the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort in Maui, Hawaii. He carded an 11-under-par 62 in the final round to overtake Gary Woodland, who held a 5-stroke lead over Schauffele before the final round.

One stroke behind Tiger Woods

On April 14, Schauffele finished in a tie for second place in the Masters Tournament, one stroke behind winner Tiger Woods. After opening the tournament with a 1-over 73, he recorded rounds of 65-70-68 to finish tied for 2nd with Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka.

He led the field with 25 birdies and became the third player since 1980 to make 25 or more birdies in a single Masters, joining Phil Mickelson (25 in 2001) and Jordan Spieth (28 in 2015).

For US team in Australia

On June 16, 2019, Schauffele finished tied for 3rd at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. In December 2019, Schauffele played for the U.S. team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.

The U.S. team won 16-14, with Schauffele winning his Sunday singles match against Adam Scott.

Chance to win missed

At the start of 2021, Schauffele had moved up to 4th in the world rankings. At the 2021 Masters Tournament, Schauffele ended up finishing in a tie for 3rd place after recording a triple-bogey on the 16th hole, wasting his chances to win.

He finished the US Open in the same year in shared 7th place. This means Schauffele has finished in the top 10 in all five of his US Open tournaments played.

Olympic gold

On Aug. 1, 2021, Schauffele won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics with a final round of 4-under par. With an up-and-down to par on the final hole at Kasumigaseki Country Club, he won by one stroke over Rory Sabbatini to become the first American Olympic champion in golf since 1900 and the fourth ever.

[Source: Wikipedia]

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