NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — Xander Schaufele continues to make up for lost time.
Winless for more than two years, Schaufele picked up his fourth victory in the last 12 months on Sunday when he overcame a difficult moment in the middle of his round with two key birdies and saved par for a par 70 to win the Scottish Open.
Next up is another test on Scottish soil, this purest of all, the British Open at St Andrews. Schaufele heads to the home of golf as one of the hottest players in the world.
It was the first time the PGA Tour co-sanctioned a DP World Tour event.
“It’s just an honor to win the first one,” said Schaufele, who now has seven career PGA Tour titles.
His 8-foot par save on the par-3 17th at The Renaissance Club gave him a two-shot lead and the 28-year-old from San Diego played it smart from there. He removed the iron from the 18th tee to avoid trouble and found himself missing an 8-foot par that only affected the margin.
Schaufele finished at 7-under 273, one shot ahead of Kurt Kitayama (66).
Genesis Scottish Open full field results
Kitayama had a one-shot lead on the back nine and was still tied until he missed a 6-foot par putt on the 17th hole and then had to wait to see if his score would be enough.
The consolation for Kitayama was earning three spots in the field at the British Open, his third consecutive time in golf’s oldest championship. The other two spots went to Brandon Wu and Jamie Donaldson, who were sixth.
So many others had the chance to win a place at St Andrews. Rickie Fowler has played every British Open since 2010 and reached the final round of the Scottish Open within range. But he closed with a 75 and returned home across the Atlantic.
BY Brentley Romine — July 10, 2022 at 2:26 pm
Kurt Kitayama was one of three players, along with Jamie Donaldson and Brandon Wu, to punch their tickets for the 150th Scottish Open.
Ryan Palmer was also in position until he played the back nine with two bogeys and no birdies and missed by two shots. It was more difficult for Alex Smalley, who only needed a par on the 18th to earn a place. He made gods.
It was not easy for Schaufele either.
He started the final round with a two-stroke lead and bogeyed the first two holes. He was four shots ahead after five holes. And when he got to the back nine, he was one shot behind.
“It was stressful,” Schaufele said. “I’m not going to put makeup on the pig here. It was a very ordinary day, probably my worst thing this week. You can’t get ahead of yourself in links golf. it was front, back, front, back. I just kept my head down.
Things started to turn in his favor when Schaufele birdied the 14th hole 15 feet to regain the lead, then birdied the par-5 16th in two to set up a two-stroke birdie , which extended his lead to two strokes. Just as important was the 17th, when he chipped from behind the green about 8 feet to the hole and made par to keep his cushion.
Schauffele has now won two straight PGA Tour starts — his victory at the JP McManus Pro-Am in Ireland earlier in the week not counting — entering the final major of the year. The last player to win two straight before a major was Dustin Johnson in 2016, and then he tied for ninth at the British Open at Royal Troon.
He had gone more than three years without a win dating back to the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, which was set to begin in 2019, and it was gnawing at him.
But then Schaufele won Olympic gold at the Tokyo Olympics last summer. He teamed with Patrick Cantlay to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in late April, and now he’s added two more of his own. This takes him to No. 5 in the world.
Schaufele continues hot streak with win in Scotland
“Just to get over the hump, honestly, it was big,” he said of his first PGA Tour win this year in New Orleans. “It was definitely a boost for me, as you can tell.”
Joohyung Kim, the 20-year-old South Korean, also had a brief share of the lead with a brilliant play at the 17th in which his ball rolled off the backslope to 5 feet for birdie. But he bogeyed the 18th and shot a 67 to finish third. It moved up to number 39, its first time in the top 50.
Jordan Spieth once again had his share of adventures.
He was one shot off the lead until he bogeyed the 14th into tall grass, hacked long and made double bogey, then bogeyed the 15th with a wedge in hand from the fairway. Spieth had two birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey on the back nine and shot a 72 to tie for 10th.
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