Xander Schauffele finally broke through. What made the difference?

The last 12 months had it all – crazy winning streaks, big new champions, a major weekly arrest (!) and more. With 2025 on the horizon, our writers are looking at the most memorable moments from 2024.

no. 15 – Charley Hull goes viral | no. 14 – LIV, CEO of the LPGA say goodbye | no. 13 – The Solheim Cup parking fiasco | no. 12 – Open Phoenix Chaos | no. 11 – Hall of Fame Revival of Lydia Ko | no. 10 – PGA Tour/Saudi PIF merger deadlock | no. 9 – Keegan Bradley named Ryder Cup captain | no. 8 – Lexi Thompson left

Golf’s Greatest Moments of 2024 No. 8: Xander Schauffele takes the next step

In the hours after his son’s major championship win, I spoke with Xander Schauffele’s father, Stefan from its shipping container to the home under development in Hawaii. After all, he had been there every step of his son’s journey to golfing greatness. What did it mean to cross the border?

“We knew it was coming,” said Stephen matter-of-factly; he had come down the mountain for nine of the PGA Championship as his son’s victory became more and more likely. “In our minds – I think I can speak for it there – there was never a moment’s doubt in that regard. I mean, look how consistent he is. It just happened.”

Okay, but how did it actually happen? smelt?

“I just started crying. Finally it happened. FinallyIT event,– said Stefan, the inevitability replaced by surprise. “I was just watching until he won — and then I let the emotions go. At that point I was helpless. Give me the box of Kleenex.”

There’s no doubt that Scottie Scheffler was the dominant PGA Tour winner in 2024, and that Nelly Korda did much the same on the LPGA side, and that Bryson DeChambeau paired YouTube dominance with a US Open win. But when it came to the oldest metric of all – major league wins – only one player on the planet added two to their name.

Stefan Schauffele may have skipped a trip to Valhalla, but he didn’t miss out on a Scottish summer adventure, making the mid-summer trip to Royal Troon for the Open Championship. When this also ended in victory, his father was moved, touched and even more faith in his son’s future.

“He’s only halfway there,” Stefan said, with a characteristic twinkle in his eye. “I would say (he is) the one with the biggest career Grand Slam potential. How about this?”

But what was the difference? What had taken Schauffele from a perennial major championship contender to a winner — and then a winner again? There is no simple answer, and some with an analytical mind might consider it lucky, changeable, coin flipping. This year at various points Schauffele praised his experience, his continued work, the addition of Chris Como to his team and, as he said, adhering to the mantra that a stable dripper cave a stone. When I got a chance to spend time with Xander himself earlier this December, then, I couldn’t wait to hear him describe it with the benefit of a few months’ worth of daily thought.

“You never know how you’re going to react once you’re on the ground,” he said between shots at a Florida shooting range. “You practice everything you’re supposed to do the right way, the process, all that stuff. But I would get into some of these spots and I felt like there were some holes in my game.”

He cited Carnoustie as an example, going back to the 2018 Open Championship where he was in the mix on the back nine on Sunday and showed what he described as a lack of discipline.

“The way I was swinging the club, it was hard for me to make a controlled cut; everything was off the finger, crashing to the left. And that’s still my trend now; I just have a greater understanding of it. But I would go into these spots and see this right pin. I’m like, ‘Well, the perfect shot is a cut.’ And I’ve sat there and (been) disciplined enough throughout the tournament to try and hit like a low draw, just got away from it. And then all of a sudden, you know, I’m like, I’m going to try to hit and then mess it up. And now you are all in your head. You just start to unravel. And so a lot of things were happening to me, where I felt like my game was so close, I wasn’t accepting what I had. I always wanted more.

“And so, I think it’s like the pursuit of perfection where you want to hit all the shots at the right time in the big moments. And along the way you learn that it’s not really all about that.”

He didn’t achieve golf perfection in 2024, nor will he achieve it in 2025. But for two weeks — two of the biggest weeks, for that matter — he achieved the perfect score. Schauffele is a great champion. Nothing can change that now.

You can watch our full warm up interview below.

“>