‘Man That Was Brutal’ - Xander Schauffele Recalls Open Near-Miss At 'Carnasty'

Xander Schauffele ended his wait for a maiden Major at the PGA Championship in a brilliant wire-to-wire win at Valhalla in May.

But the American almost got his hands on his first Major title six years ago at the 2018 Open at Carnoustie. 

After opening with a level par 71, Schauffele carded rounds of 66 and 67 to tee it up at Carnoustie in the final pair with a superb chance of getting his hands on the Claret Jug in the 147th Open.

But his final round imploded with bogeys on the fifth and the sixth before a double bogey six on the seventh hole en-route to a disastrous three-over par 74 as Francesco Molinari recorded a two-shot win.

Schauffele, who also bogeyed the 17th after birdies on the 10th and 14th,  had to settle for a tie for second place instead alongside Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy and Kevin Kisner on -6. 

He reflected: "Carnoustie, man that was brutal. An important experience for me, though. It was tough – ‘Carnasty’ was playing nasty and it got the best of us early in the day on Sunday unfortunately.

"I kind of clawed my way back into the round a little bit and got myself back in touch after a bad opening stretch, and then missed some putts late on. I had that costly bogey on 17. I hit a really good approach on 16 under pressure and just wasn’t able to convert the putt. The rest is history. It was really cool to be in the thick of things at that Major. It just feels different being in the thick of things at an Open versus the other Majors."

Schauffele's tied second finish is his best performance in an Open in six attempts but after breaking his Major duck earlier this year, he is hungry for more success. And the American believes he has the game and attitude to cope with everything a links championship can throw at a player as he prepares to compete at Royal Troon this year. 

He added: "Links golf is very cool. There’s usually only one side that you can miss it on. There are times at The Open where you know you just have to send it towards the trouble and trust it’s coming back on the wind. 

"You’ll have times where you aim at bunkers that are clearly crossed out as not in play in your yardage book and you literally have to hit it into the strong winds. You almost have to hit it at the bunkers – try to hit a little fade just so it doesn’t hook that much. It’s a pretty wild feeling. You can have fun with it and embrace that it’s part of the links golf experience. That always seems to be the right approach for me.

"You’ve got to be a little more creative. If you’re not comfortable with a certain part of your game, you can play to other strengths. I remember during a practice round at Carnoustie, I hit a putt from like 100 yards to six feet on the 9th hole – that’s how fast the course was playing.

"I wouldn’t do that in a tournament round, but you can always sort of bump shots or putt from 20 yards off the green if you’re not super comfortable with chipping around the greens out there. I think there are a variety of ways in which links courses allow you to get creative."