Xander Schauffele admits that he was in awe of Rory McIlroy on Sunday, as the Northern Irishman hit the accelerator on the back nine to win the Wells Fargo Championship, his fourth title at Quail Hollow, by five shots.
The American held a one-shot lead overnight and the tournament looked set for a tight finish, before “unbelievable” McIlroy found a different gear to race clear and claim his 26th PGA Tour title.
“When you take a step back, yeah,” Schauffele said, when asked whether he found himself admiring his opponent. “He’s Rory McIlroy, you know?
McIlroy made eagles at the 10th and 15th as Schauffele struggled to keep pace, and he also made a couple of costly unforced errors.
“He hits it 350 yards in the air downwind and he has shorter clubs into firm greens than anyone else,” added Schauffele.
“When he's on, he's on. Hats off to him for winning. Yeah, he played unbelievably well.
“Overall I felt like I was doing pretty well for most of the day and then had that costly stretch and he capitalized like no other. Big reversal there.”
This was Schauffele’s 14th runner-up finish on the PGA Tour and despite having seven victories to his name, many will feel that the 30-year-old should be in double figures by now – and have a Major Championship title to his name.
The Californian, whose last win came at the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open, has recorded top 10s in all four Major Championships, including tied second at the Masters (2019) and The Open (2018).
At the US Open, Schauffele also boasts four top-5 finishes since 2017, and he hasn’t been outside the world’s top 10 since July 2022.
Schauffele’s consistency might be applauded in some corners, but there are those who might question whether he's lacking something when the winning line is in sight.
Xander Schauffele congratulates Rory McIlroy
Schauffele, however, who has already wracked up eight top-10 finishes this year, feels it’s just a matter of cleaning up his short game.
“I feel like I controlled the ball off the tee pretty well,” he said.
“Hit some incredible iron shots that I haven't been able to do in quite some time – right to left and left to right.
“Overall, I just need to clean up my short game. It's always been a deciding factor whether I win a tournament or not, sort of a trigger stat for me, and it definitely hurt me today.”
Schauffele is one of those players in the group of 'Best players not to have won a Major Championship'.
He'll be heading to this week's second Major Championship of the season at Valhalla where, once again, he will start as one of the favorites, and he'll be hoping to get that monkey off his back.
