What it means to Xander Schauffele to be Open champion and why Scottish Open prep is 'no brainer'

Xander Schauffele showed his golf game could “travel” by winning the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open but admitted that now becoming a major champion in the Home of Golf was “even cooler”.

The 30-year-old Californian was crowned Champion Golfer of the Year after claiming a two-shot success in the 152nd Open at the end of a gruelling four days at Royal Troon.

It was Schauffele’s second major victory this year after finally making his big breakthrough in the PGA Championship in Valhalla in May, becoming the first player to win multiple majors in the same season since Brooks Koepka in 2018.

Xander Schauffele touches the Claret Jug during a press conference after winning the 152nd Open at Royal Troon. Picture: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images.

Sitting with the Claret Jug in front of him, Schauffele admitted that it had been special to land his latest big win close to Prestwick, where The Open was first held in 1860.

“It's an honour,” he said, smiling, of a success worth £2.4 million. “I've always dreamt of doing it. That walk up 18 truly is the coolest with the yellow leaderboards and the fans and the standing ovation.

“It really is one of the coolest feelings I've ever had in my life. I got chills walking down and quickly had to zap myself back into focus because the tournament wasn't over yet. I can't wait to enjoy this with my family.”

Schauffele, who is set to leapfrog Rory McIlroy into second spot in the Official World Golf Ranking, won his Scottish Open in testing conditions at The Renaissance Club and, helped by a brilliant closing 65, it was a similar story on this occasion.

“I think it's essential,” he said of having once again used the Scottish Open to prepare for the season’s final major. “Just the time zone itself is a big thing to overcome.

“Then when you move along to the fescue and the deep bunkers and the finer sand, and then you talk about the wind, and then the greens being slower, literally everything is completely different than what we do over in the States. If you can just give yourself an extra week to try and acclimate, I think it's a no-brainer.”

In 11 editions of The Open at Troon, seven have now been won by Americans after Schauffele followed in the footsteps of Arnold Palmer (1962), Tom Weiskopf (1973), Tom Watson (1982), Mark Calcavecchia (1989), Justin Leonard (1997) and Todd Hamiton (2004).

“I don't know if that's true or not,” replied the new Open champion to being asked if he now felt a complete golfer after adding a win in the Home of Golf to his first major victory on US soil. “but I'm definitely going to believe that's true because here we are.

“Yeah, it's a completely different style of golf. It makes you play shots and have different ball positions. There's so much risk/reward when the wind's blowing 20 miles an hour and it starts raining. There's so many different variables that come into play. It truly is an honour to win this.

“To me it's big. To me winning the Scottish Open was big because it meant my game could travel. So to double that up and win a major in Scotland is even cooler.”

Ewen Ferguson finished as the leading Scot in joint-22nd while Nairn 20-year-old Calum Scott picked up the Silver Medal as leading amateur.

Meanwhile, the total attendance for the event was 258,174, which was around 80,000 more than 2016 and made it biggest for the event outside St Andrews, where 290,000 fans attended the 150th edition in 2022