By Dave Shedloski
There are many ways to measure success, and Xander Schauffele has the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Award as ample proof that his professional golf career is taking off. However, it occurred to Schauffele, whose T-5 finish in the U.S. Open launched a late-season surge to a pair of victories, including the the season-ending Tour Championship, that he can gauge his progress throughout the 2016-17 campaign in another way.

“Right now, my caddie has a nicer car than I do. That tells me a little something,” Schauffele says with a laugh, referring to Austin Kaiser, his college teammate from San Diego State, who bought a nifty BMW while Schauffele still schleps around in his Toyota Camry, one he just scraped up in a recent fender bender. But he doesn’t mind. “I’m an old soul. I haven’t purchased anything crazy. I used to want all these things, but now that we’re sitting here with some success, it doesn’t seem all that important now.”

The 23-year-old Schauffele learned Monday that he had beaten out Wesley Bryan, Patrick Cantlay, Mackenzie Hughes and Grayson Murray for top rookie honors. A 2016 graduate of the Web.com Tour, Schauffele is the fourth member of the high school class of 2011 to win the award, as voted on by fellow tour members. He joins Jordan Spieth (2013), Daniel Berger (2015) and Emiliano Grillo (2016).

“Everyone was telling me I should win this thing, but it’s just a crazy year for rookies, and to beat them all is pretty amazing,” he said. “I was told some stats before the interview. There were 20 guys that won this year 25 and under; the highest previously was like 11. I think the reason I won is because three guys before me were crazy enough to win—Cody Gribble, Wesley Bryan and Mackenzie Hughes. I was talking about Jordan Spieth setting the bar high, but those guys set the bar for my class. They made me believe that I could win out here, so kudos to them.”

Schauffele captured The Greenbrier Classic in July. He then held off Thomas, the prohibitive favorite for the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year Award (which will be announced Wednesday) at the Tour Championship, the first rookie to win the season finale since its inception in 1987. In 28 starts, the San Diego resident recorded four top-10 finishes, the most important being his surprise showing in the U.S. Open at Erin Hills.

A sectional qualifier out of Memphis, Schauffele opened with a 66 and found himself surrounded by media wondering who he was. Up to that point, he had missed six cuts and was languishing in 135th place in the FedEx Cup standings, well outside keeping his card tour. He was ranked 352nd in the Official World Golf Ranking.

But he performed the rest of the week like he had been around all along. “I never looked back,” he said. “That was a huge opportunity that I was able to take advantage of, and I could just feel the momentum switch over to my side and I was able to ride it the rest of the year.”

He finished the year third in the FedEx Cup and 32nd in the world. He earned more than $4.3 million, so whenever he is ready to upgrade his automobile, he has the resources.

Last week, while the top American players were competing the Presidents Cup, Schauffele went out to dinner with some friends and the waiter recognized him. A far cry from being an unknown U.S. Open contender.

“It’s all strange to me, but it’s pretty cool when people know who you are,” he said.

Schauffele admits he didn’t watch much of the Presidents Cup. He didn’t touch a club last week, but is ready to gear up for the new season with a three-week run of tour events in Asia starting at next week’s CIMB Classic. He missed the Presidents Cup with his peers, but he has his sights set on the Ryder Cup in Paris next fall.

There are goals to improve, but the old soul in him keeps it real. “You look at the stats, even on the tour app, it’s pretty obvious what I’m good at and what I suck at. And I’m very aware of it,” he said. “I think if I can get a little bit better in every category, I’m doing OK. But it’s also about keeping a clear head. I think it’s easy to get a big head in this situation. I need to find a way to manage my time and be an adult. That’s one of my goals for the next year.”

What he doesn’t have to improve on is his ability to win, even though, he admitted, “It was something I didn’t have a lot of experience with before.”

Yet he did just fine. By any measure you choose.

The post A humble Xander Schauffele said all the right things in accepting his Rookie of the Year award appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dave Shedloski

Xander Schauffele honoured a U.S. Open tradition this year at Erin Hills, providing the championship with the obligatory first-round surprise with his six-under 66 in his debut in a major championship. But the former San Diego State All-American has gone off script since.

Most unknowns tend to fade back into obscurity, if not during the championship then quickly thereafter. Not Schauffele, who hung around all week at Erin Hills, shot a final-round 69 and finished T-5 for just his second top-10 of his rookie season on the PGA Tour.

Nice work, kid. Everyone has a hot week. What else have you got?

Plenty it turns out.

With a three-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole on the Old White TPC at The Greenbrier Resort on Sunday, Schauffele broke a tie with Robert Streb and captured The Greenbrier Classic in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. Schauffele closed with a three-under 67 for a 14-under 266 total to win in just his 24th PGA Tour start.

“I’m at a loss for words,” said Schauffele, 23, who is yet another young player from the high school graduating class of 2011 to break through, a group that includes Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Daniel Berger. “Honestly, [it] just changed my life, really. I need a while to take it all in.”

This is what he took in: a berth in the Open Championship, PGA Championship and next year’s Masters as well as $1.278 million. He is the fourth rookie to win on tour this season, joining Wesley Bryan, Cody Gribble and Mackenzie Hughes, and he became the 13th player 25 or younger to triumph, the most on tour since 1970.

“I hate to say it … but, yeah, I mean, our class has always been really strong, and I always joke with my buddies saying it’s not cool to be 23 and on the PGA Tour anymore since everyone that’s been 22, 23, 24, they’re all winning,” Schauffele said, “so I guess kudos to them for kind of pushing me along.”

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for the 23-year-old from San Diego, who survived a five-man playoff for two spots in the 36-hole U.S. Open sectional qualifier in Memphis to earn trip to Erin Hills. When he arrived, Schauffele was 135th in the tour’s FedEx Cup standings. He followed up his T-5 in Wisconsin with a T-14 at the Travelers, finished T-35 last week at the Quicken Loans National, and now has made the ultimate leap to move to 27th in the FedEx Cup race.

On Sunday, Schauffele overcame a three-stroke deficit to another rookie, Sebastian Munoz, and outdueled Streb, who finished runner-up at The Greenbrier for the second straight time. Streb, who lost to Danny Lee in a four-man playoff in 2015—last year’s event postponed due to deadly flooding in West Virginia—had a chance to tie, but failed to birdie the par-5 17th and then left a chip to force a playoff short after missing the green at 18 to close with a 69 and 267 total.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Schauffele, now a first-time PGA Tour winner, traces his strong play back to his first-round performance at the U.S. Open

Did Schauffele’s U.S. Open performance really mean that much?

“The U.S. Open was a huge moment in my career,” said Schauffele, who is coached by his father, Stefan, a former world-class decathlete from Germany. “It was one of the biggest stages, and for me to kind of be calm and collected throughout the week and just kind of hang on and come in tied fifth was huge for me mentally. So it kind of gave me the confidence and allowed me to play and win this week.”

That he proved when he hit a hard wedge from 162 yards on the par-3 finishing hole to set up the winning putt.

“I just tried to go back to the basics, close my eyes and take some deep breaths,” Schauffele said. “It’s incredible. Just to know that my team and I are, we’re doing the right things and we can kind of push forward and hopefully just stay on the same track.”

As part of the Open Championship Qualifying Series, the top four players among the top 12 not otherwise exempt earned a berth in the Open at Royal Birkdale. In addition to Schauffele, the others were Streb, Munoz and Jamie Lovemark.

For the second straight week, a player who led each of the first three rounds failed to win. David Lingmerth did it at Quicken Loans National, and on Sunday it was Munoz, who closed with a 73 to finish T-3 with Lovemark. Munoz, who opened with a 61, had as many bogeys in the final round—five—as he tallied in the first three rounds combined. His last was the fatal one. Tied for the lead at 13 under with Streb and Schauffele, the rookie from Colombia missed the green from 105 yards at the par-4 16th and couldn’t get up and down.

Still, Munoz had his best finish of the season, and he will make his major championship debut at Royal Birkdale.

He can look to Schauffele to understand what that could mean.

The post The ride of Xander Schauffele’s life appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.