Xander Schauffele’s win at last year’s Genesis Scottish Open came off the back of three sublime weeks for the American, who picked up three trophies in three different countries.
Coming into the first staging of the Rolex Series tournament since it became dual-sanctioned between the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR, Schauffele had won the Travelers Championship on the PGA TOUR before finishing top of the leaderboard at the prestigious JP McManus Pro-Am in Ireland at the start of the week.
The American continued that rich vein of form at the Renaissance Club, carding rounds of 72, 65 and 66 to open up a two-shot lead heading into the final round. On Sunday, Schauffele started the final round in fine fashion as birdies at the first two holes saw him double his overnight two-shot lead.
However, victory is rarely straightforward and so it proved as he dropped three shots in the space of four holes from the sixth to fall one behind countryman and two-time DP World Tour winner Kurt Kitayama at the turn.
Schauffele birdied the par three 14th and then made a two-putt birdie at the par five 16th to move into a two-shot lead, with Kitayama finished after setting a clubhouse target of six under. A gutsy two-putt par eased some of the pressure on his shoulders on the 18th tee and the 2020 Olympic Champion closed with a bogey to seal a one-shot victory.
“It’s special,” said Schauffele after winning his first event outside of the States.
“It’s different playing over here. You’ve got to play golf differently. The fans are incredible. They pushed me long all day and this is definitely a nice win for my team and myself.
“It’s great to win the first event that’s co-sanctioned between the two tours. It was an incredible week. Genesis has always put on, well the tournaments I have played they have always put on incredible events and I knew this was going to be no different and what an honour to win in the Home of Golf.”
The Olympic Champion finished one shot clear of Kitayama, with South Korea’s Joohyung Kim one shot further back, just ahead of Tommy Fleetwood and Patrick Cantlay.
