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Two months after Xander Schauffele won his first major championship victory at the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, the 30-year-old PGA Tour star from San Diego won his second major on Sunday at the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club on Scotland’s west coast.
Per ESPN, Schauffele is the first golfer since Brooks Koepka in 2018 (U.S. Open and PGA Championship) to claim two majors in one season. It’s only the seventh time a player won both the PGA Championship and The Open in the same year; Rory McIlroy was the last to do it in 2014.
Seven golfers started the final round within one shot of leader Billy Horschel, but it was Schauffele who held the Claret Jug in victory. Schauffele posted a 6-under 65 on Sunday, with his 72-hole total of 9-under 275 putting him two strokes ahead of Horschel and England’s Justin Rose. South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence was another stroke back.
Schauffele is just the sixth golfer to win his first two majors in the same year, became just the seventh golfer to win the PGA Championship and The Open in the same year. He is the first golfer in the Masters era (since 1934) to have multiple final rounds of 65 or better in majors in the same year (per ESPN Stats & Information.)
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