Xander Schauffele Wins First Major at 2024 PGA Championship

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00:00 [Music]

00:03 But we start with a major championship weekend in the world of golf. Of course, our last show together,

00:09 the Friday edition of the Early Line. One of the crazier we have had here on TEL, following the

00:15 situation in Louisville ahead of round number two, surrounding Scottie Scheffler, world number

00:21 one. So there was a ton of attention on the PGA Championship this weekend. We'll talk about

00:26 Scottie in just a moment, but it wasn't Scheffler on top when all was said and done. It was Shoffley,

00:33 Xander Shoffley, for the first time in his career, a major champion. A moment that every kid dreams

00:40 of as you practice putting wherever you are at any stage of your golfing career. You line up a putt

00:47 and you say to win on 18 a birdie putt for a major championship, and that is exactly what

00:53 Xander Shoffley accomplished. 21 under for all four rounds of the tournament at the PGA Championship,

01:01 and with his arms high up in the sky, a major champion for the first time in his career,

01:07 victorious at the 2024 PGA Championship. Yeah, it was pretty cool to watch it play out too,

01:13 and also when you saw that 18th hole, knowing that you needed a birdie, and also like sometimes you

01:17 just cheer it along. Like I had an over four and a half birdies for Xander Shoffley, which he got

01:21 very early in that round. I believe by the 10th or the 11th, the 11th hole, excuse me. He finally

01:26 got that final birdie for me because I started looking at the leaderboard and it's like, come on

01:29 Shoffley, don't have a four or five shot lead with six holes to go where you actually don't need to

01:33 make birdie. You can just protect yourself, and he didn't need to do that, but never did I think it

01:37 would come down to the 18th hole where he needed a birdie to win it, and everybody that's played

01:41 golf or played in any sort of sporting event, you saw that chip go up there, which was a very good

01:47 chip, but you saw the length of that putt, five to six, it was like my goodness man, couldn't you

01:51 have just laid that thing up to within gimme range, or just walk up and tap in as a champion.

01:55 He had to go out there and earn that, and my goodness, when he hit that putt and you just

01:58 watched that circle around the drain before it went down, the absolute emotions that Xander

02:04 Shoffley must have been going through once that putt was rolling were incredible because it's not

02:08 as if even if Tiger Woods, hey I'm going to win my 16th, 17th, 18th, you know, major championship,

02:12 just getting your first one knowing you had to earn it, that's got to feel great. It's like,

02:17 you know what, on 18, I make birdie, I win this, and you know what, he went out and he made birdie,

02:21 that's a great way to do it man. Yeah, absolutely so. Todd at the start of the final round, 15 under

02:28 the top of the leaderboard with Colin Murakawa, and when everybody was going low all Sunday long,

02:35 Murakawa did not an even par 71, his only birdie of the day, his first and only on that 18th hole,

02:43 but what Xander Shoffley accomplished this week was a huge moment in his career. He has won a

02:49 gold medal in terms of Olympic golf, had finished top 10 in all four of the major championships,

02:55 but never a major winner until yesterday at the PGA championship, and he started his opening round

03:02 with a historic 62, nine under the only ever 62 in a single round in the history of the PGA

03:10 championship, matching the lowest ever round in the history of major championship golf,

03:16 including one of his other scores from last year to begin play at the 2023 US Open, firing a 62,

03:23 but Xander didn't win that week. Out in LA, Xander was able to win this week, and BRSU saw it

03:29 reflected in the odds there, 14 to one, third best price to win this year's PGA championship,

03:35 only behind Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, each and every major, each and every elevated

03:41 event on the PGA tour. Xander Shoffley is one of the five best prices entering a tournament,

03:47 because he is always around the top of the leaderboard, will get off to strong starts,

03:52 but in at least times past, not including Sunday, he kind of crumbles down the stretch,

03:58 or is unable to outlast the rest of the field, not on Sunday, not in Louisville,

04:04 not at Valhalla Golf Club, a major champion at 21 under, and everybody was giving him the best

04:10 shot. Bryson DeChambeau, what a week it was, a final round, seven under 64 to shoot 20 under,

04:18 everybody went low all week long in Louisville, Xander Shoffley at 21 under par, the lowest of

04:24 them all to finish on top, a major champion. - Yeah, Hovland and DeChambeau were a lot of fun

04:30 to watch yesterday, going toe to toe for most of that round, let's see who maybe had the chance to

04:34 overtake Xander Shoffley, and also the easiest hole in the golf course I believe was playing

04:38 out, which is number 10, which was a par five, you saw Shoffley bogey that hole, and that complete

04:42 turnaround swing, it's like, oh no, here we go again, Xander Shoffley with a lead on Sunday,

04:47 not able to close the door, this is just what he does, and for the fact that he could have

04:51 recovered from that, because nobody gets upset when it's like, this par three place is the

04:54 toughest on the course, and you bogey it, okay, you're not giving back a shot to the field,

04:58 you take a look at a par five that's the easiest hole and you bogey it, you give two shots back

05:02 to the field, and so many times other guys will take advantage of that, which they did have the

05:06 lead over Xander Shoffley, but the way to come back on the back nine, just keep firing at pins,

05:11 and he did that, and it was also great to see unbelievable weather conditions yesterday,

05:15 light winds, sunny weather, chances to go at pins here, so you really had to earn it,

05:19 as opposed to so many times we see in some of these major championships, how tough the golf

05:23 course is, and with weather conditions, you're just looking to hold off the competition, as

05:27 opposed to, let's go out and get some birdies here, minus 21, minus 20, minus 18, that was a

05:32 really good Sunday affair out there. - The lowest ever cumulative total field

05:38 under par that we had seen in the history of the PGA Championship, and by a very, very good margin,

05:45 of course, the story of the weekend outside of Xander Shoffley was Scotty Sheffler arrested prior

05:51 to his start of the second round early on Friday morning for the traffic situation outside of Val

05:57 Holla, that we detailed for you all Friday morning long, of course, Scotty returned in his second

06:04 round to shoot a 5 under 66, a cyborg who mentioned that he got ready to go in the jail cell in the

06:11 Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections early on a Friday, but maybe as the adrenaline

06:18 settled on Saturday, his first over par round in competitive golf since August, August of 2023,

06:27 to over 73, kind of detracted from him truly being in contention, he bounced back in a big way in

06:33 the fourth and final round with a 6 under par 65 to finish, he finished tied for eighth, another

06:40 top 10 for Scotty Sheffler, 13 under for his tournament, he described the effort, Donnie,

06:47 his post round press conference on Friday was a fascinating watch and listen, he described his

06:53 effort this week as proud of himself for his ability to bounce back from what was just a

06:59 jarring personal and individual matter on Friday, the story around Scotty has been, when is his kid

07:05 being born? He's a new father now returns home to Dallas after a very wild weekend in Louisville.

07:11 That certainly was on Friday to shoot 66 without basically any warm up routine,

07:16 you're getting booked in and out of jail, not knowing what your future actually is going to be,

07:20 maybe that adrenaline wore off a little bit on Saturday, but he was right back on it on Sunday.

07:25 So good things on the horizon, certainly for Scotty Sheffler, no doubt about that, he'll be

07:28 the favorite in just about every tournament he plays as long as he's healthy for the remaining

07:32 parts of the summer here, Ben. Next up the U.S. Open in just about a month, I believe at Pinehurst,

07:39 number two in North Carolina.

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