Xander Schauffele Wins the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla

Xander Schauffele rolled in a birdie putt from six feet and two inches on the par-5 18th hole to reach 21-under par and win the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club by one shot over Bryson DeChambeau.

The win marked the first major championship victory for the 30-year-old from La Jolla, California, who now has eight career PGA Tour wins. He closed between +1700 and +2000 on Thursday morning to win the 2024 PGA Championship.

Schauffele, who was chased down last Sunday by Rory McIlroy in the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship, has been noted as a golfer who has won less often than he should. He entered this week ranked second on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Total this season but had not won an event since the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open.

His victory solidifies himself as the second-best golfer in the world behind Scottie Scheffler in 2024 and should end any talk of his struggles to close out events.

Schauffele entered the final round in Louisville in a tie for the 54-hole lead with Collin Morikawa at 15-under par. Morikawa faded as he failed to get any lower than 15-under because of issues with his putter, and his only birdie of the day came on the 18th hole.

It was a three-horse race down the stretch, with Schauffele, DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland vying for the title. Hovland and DeChambeau were two groups in front of Schauffele, as they each started at 13-under par. Both had putts for birdie to get to 20-under par on the par-5 18th hole from inside 12 feet.

DeChambeau hit the longest drive of the day off the 18th tee 347 yards into the left fairway bunker. He then hit his second shot 220 yards to the first cut just left of the fairway 34 yards from the hole. He pitched from there to 10 feet, nine inches and knocked in the putt on its final revolution to move into a tie with Schauffele for the lead at 20-under.

DeChambeau’s seven-under par final-round 64 tied Jordan Smith and Billy Horschel for the lowest round of the day Sunday.

Hovland then had a putt to tie DeChambeau in the clubhouse at 20-under but missed from exactly 10 feet. He then missed the comebacker from inside three feet to finish with his only bogey of the round at 18-under and a final-round five-under 66.

Schauffele stepped onto the 18th tee in a tie for the lead with DeChambeau and had gone birdie-par-birdie over the first three rounds on the final hole.

His tee shot was bombed 325 yards to the first cut just left of the fairway, leaving him 247 yards from the hole. The former San Diego State Aztec had to play his second shot with the ball significantly above his feet as he stood in the bunker.

He’d hit that second shot to the left fairway 36 yards short of the hole, then knocked it to six feet, two inches and made the putt to win the Wanamaker Trophy.

Schauffele’s final-round 65 was the fourth-lowest round of the day. He won with spectacular ball-striking, as he was the only golfer in the field to rank among the top five in the field in both Strokes Gained (SG): Off the Tee (+5.227, third) and SG: Approach the Green (+7.811, second). He also ranked 13th in Strokes Gained: Putting, gaining 4.704 strokes on the field on the greens this week.

This is a similar recipe to the one that has made him statistically the second-best golfer on the PGA Tour this season, entering this week ranked eighth in SG: Off the Tee and seventh in SG: Approach the Green. Schauffele is one of three golfers on Tour who entered this week among the top 10 on the season in both SG: Off the Tee and SG: Approach along with Scheffler (first and first) and Keith Mitchell (sixth and 10th).

Schauffele tied the lowest round ever in a major championship with a 62 (-9) on Thursday and is the first wire-to-wire winner at the PGA Championship since Brooks Koepka in 2019 at Bethpage Black. Schauffele’s score of 21-under par also sets a new major championship scoring record, as four golfers had previously held a share of the scoring record at 20-under par.

Golfers to Shoot 20-under Par at a Major

DeChambeau became the first golfer to reach 20-under par in a major without winning after his performance in Louisville this weekend.

Last week, after finishing second to McIlroy at Quail Hollow Club, Schauffele noted to Golf Channel's Todd Lewis that his next win would feel so much sweeter because of the struggles he experienced last week, and now that taste will be synonymous with his favorite Kentucky bourbon.