Did Xander Schauffele’s 2024 Open Championship victory surprise everyone? On July 21, 2024, the 31-year-old beat the likes of Billy Horschel & Justin Rose to win the prestigious major event by 2 strokes.

Before the final round, Schauffele sat tied at -3, 1 stroke off Horschel’s score. Rose, Thriston Lawrence, Scottie Scheffler, & Russell Henley accompanied him on the spot as they too were looking to capture the title at the Royal Troon Golf Club. On paper, it seems like Schauffele was incredibly lucky to win the tournament. While he did manage to secure a 6-stroke deficit in the last 18, it was the performance of his opponents that may have helped him stay on top.

However, in Justin Rose’s recent appearance on the Skratch YouTube channel, the pro golfer brushed off these claims. Speaking to the guest host and caddie Dan Rapaport, Rose was a part of the On The Bag segment in this video.

The duo were in a Shoot 3-Under segment of the channel. While walking down the fairway, they were discussing how Rose likes to delve into the details and database of every stroke to improve his gameplay. That is when Dan mentioned that Xander Schauffele “is like that,” as the world no. 2 also likes to focus on these elements consistently.

Stating that he doesn’t want to cause a “heartbreak” due to Justin Rose’s involvement in the situation, Dan said, “Xander at Troon (Royal Troon Golf Club). I was doing commentary for the BBC that week and I was walking with him on that Saturday (Round 3 of the event) which was horrendous weather,” as he explained how the players were cold and uncomfortable as the event was cursed with rain.

That’s when he discussed Schauffele’s attitude back then: “He wore cashmere sweaters, he didn’t even put on rain gear, and he was completely stoic, locked in,” while he also stated how Rose, Horschel, & Shane Lowry were quite emotional through that weekend.

Rose shared his views about the world no. 2 as he said, “He’s always like that. That’s probably one of the biggest assets to his game,” mentioning that Schauffele’s attitude gives him the advantage against his opponents. The Englishman then talked about a statistic he saw about his fellow PGA Tour pro, “I saw a thing on Instagram; there was like a spiderweb chart and it told how many guys had a weapon (skills) or not” which prompted Dan to clarify if he was talking about “relative skills.”

After confirming that is what he meant, Justin Rose continued “He had all five. All five of them. Scottie (Scheffler) was four, guys were in different categories there. The strokes gained attitude, that would be another string to his bow,” confirming how Xander Schauffele’s approach to every stroke gives him another relative skill on the spiderweb.

Interestingly, Xander Schauffele making sure that Shane Lowry or Justin Rose didn’t win the tournament helped him and his fellow American golfers, Scottie Scheffler & Bryson DeChambeau, secure all the major championships for the first time since 1982. It was an All-American performance at the biggest tournaments of the season.

Getting such high praise from a professional golfer definitely puts the man from La Jolla in the elite list of golfers. But was Xander still lucky to win the title?

Xander Schauffele’s performance at the Open Championship 2024

Coming off a win at the PGA Championship 2024, Schauffele was looking to grab his 2nd major victory at the Royal Troon Golf Club right from the get-go. Facing an extremely challenging course, world no. 2 had tough competition from 5 other pros mentioned previously. 2024 Masters Tournament winner Scottie Scheffler was among the favorites to capture it in the final round. Being tied with Schauffele in the 3rd round, Mr. Inevitable managed to score 2 double bogeys and 1 bogey to reduce his score to -1.

Horschel, who has a 1-stroke advantage going into Sunday managed to score 3 bogeys himself. He finished the tournament 2 points behind Schauffele. While Justin Rose himself only scored a bogey, being only 1 stroke away from the eventual winner would have put a little more pressure on the world no. 2. There is no doubt Xander Schauffele performed brilliantly in the final round scoring 6 birdies. But had the others not fumbled, would the result be any different? We will never know.

Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, and others are set to take the course in The Sentry on January 2, 2025. Who do you think will win the season-opening event? Share your views in the comments section.