Xander Schauffele

Schauffele started to play golf at age 9. Was taught by his father, Stefan, who spent some time as an assistant professional in Hawaii before moving back to San Diego. Although born in La Jolla, California, Xander's family tree encompasses four nationalities. His mother is from Chinese Taipei (but grew up in Japan), and his father is half-French and German. His father, Stefan, was an elite athlete in Germany before being hit by a drunk driver in a head-on collision, which ended his dreams of being an Olympic decathlete.
Was voted Big West Freshman of the Year while attending Long Beach State in 2011-12. Was a two-time Southern California Amateur runner-up (2012-13) and won the 2014 California State Amateur. After transferring to San Diego State earned All-American honors in 2014-15.
After turning professional in 2015, played in two Korn Ferry Tour events, missing the Stonebrae Classic cut and finishing T-42nd at the News Sentinel Open. At the end of the year, got through Korn Ferry Tour Q-School, finishing T-45th to earn a spot on tour in 2016.
2016 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 23; Rounds Played - 75; In Money - 14; Top-10 Finishes - 4; Scoring Average - 69.51 (rank 32nd); Money - $149,292 (rank 26th); Best Finish - 3rd, Utah Championship, T-3rd Ellie Mae Classic. Finished as the bubble boy in the regular season at 26th on the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season money list, falling $975 short of 25th place and a PGA Tour card. However, he secured his PGA Tour card for the 2016-17 season with a T-9th finish at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship to clinch one of the 25 PGA Tour cards earned during the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.
2017 Notes: In just his second start, he had his first top-10 result, a T-5th at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Also finished T-5th at the U.S. Open. His big moment came three weeks later at The Greenbrier Classic when he birdied two of the last three holes, highlighted by a pitching wedge from 161 yards to three feet, three inches for birdie at the 18th hole, en route to a one-stroke win over Robert Streb. His first PGA Tour victory came in his 23rd start at age 23 years, 8 months, and 14 days, becoming the 12th player under the age of 25 to win on the PGA Tour for the year, the most since 1970. The victory secured his berth at Royal Birkdale for the British Open, where he finished T-20th. Made it into the FedExCup playoffs comfortably by finishing 33rd in the standings. A T-17th at the Northern Trust, T-53rd at the Dell Technologies Championship and T-20th at the BMW Championship moved him to 26th on the points list to join the field for the season-ending Tour Championship. Rounds of 69-66-65-68 enabled him to defeat Justin Thomas, who would be the FedExCup champion, by a stroke. Schauffele became the first rookie to win the Tour Championship, and he climbed to 3rd place in the final FedExCup standings. He also won Rookie of the Year honors, the first rookie to win twice on the PGA Tour since Keegan Bradley in 2011.
2018 Notes: Played 27 PGA Tour events, making 22 cuts with seven top-10 finishes. Was 15th in the FedExCup standings. In his first start of the year, finished T-3rd at the CIMB Classic. Finished T-3rd at the Dunlop Phoenix on the Japan Golf Tour, nine strokes behind winner Brooks Koepka. Added another top-10 with a T-9th at the Genesis Open. Was T-2nd at The Players Championship, four strokes behind winner Webb Simpson. At the U.S. Open, he placed T-6th, his second consecutive top-six finish at the major. Played in the final pairing at the British Open en route to a T-2nd finish, his third top-10 in just six major championship appearances (T-5th/2017 U.S. Open, T-6th/2018 U.S. Open, T-2nd/2018 British Open). Shared the 54-hole lead with Kevin Kisner and Jordan Spieth at nine-under. Suffered a bogey-bogey-double bogey stretch on the front nine (holes 5, 6, and 7) of the final round but rallied with birdies at 10 and 14 to reclaim a share of the lead, tied with Francesco Molinari at 7-under. While Molinari finished at eight-under, Schauffele dropped a stroke on the 17th to fall two behind Molinari. At the FedExCup playoffs, was T-3rd at the BMW Championship, one stroke out of the Bradley/Rose playoff. He failed to defend his Tour Championship, finishing T-7th.
2019 Notes: Played in 21 PGA Tour events, making 18 cuts with six top-10 finishes. Was 2nd in the FedExCup standings. Won the WGC-HSBC Champions in a playoff over Tony Finau. It was his third PGA Tour win in his 60th Tour start at the age of 25 years, 3 days. At the Sentry Tournament of Champions, went into the final round five strokes behind leader Gary Woodland. Fired an 11-under-par 62 to defeat Woodland by a stroke. Had a T-10th result at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. After an opening-round 73 at the Masters, shot rounds of 65-70-68 to finish T-2nd, just a stroke behind winner Tiger Woods. At the U.S. Open he finished T-3rd, six strokes behind winner Gary Woodland, giving him six finishes of T-6th or better in 12 starts in the majors and Players Championship. Entered the FedExCup playoffs 4th, missed the cut at the Northern Trust, and finished T-19th at the BMW Championship. Entered the Tour Championship 8th in the standings and despite starting the week six strokes behind Justin Thomas in the FedExCup starting strokes format, shot 64-69-67-70 to make up ground on everyone except Rory McIlroy and finished 2nd in the FedExCup standings. Played in his first Presidents Cup and in four matches, had a 3-1 record, defeating Adam Scott 2 & 1 in singles.
2020 Notes: Played in 18 PGA Tour events, making 17 cuts with seven top-10 finishes. Was T-2nd in the FedExCup standings. In defense of the WGC-HSBC Champions title, lost a playoff to Rory McIlroy. At the Sentry Tournament of Champions, lost to Justin Thomas in a playoff in his title defense. Joined Tiger Woods to finish runner-up in title defense twice in a single season. After the break, finished T-3rd at the Charles Schwab Challenge, a stroke out of the Berger/Morikawa playoff. Placed T-6th at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, four strokes behind winner Justin Thomas. At the PGA Championship, opened with a 66 and was T-3rd, then followed up with a 70-69-67 to finish T-10th, five strokes behind winner Collin Morikawa. In the FedExCup playoffs, earned T-25th results at both the Northern Trust and BMW Championship. At the Tour Championship, Schauffele started the week at 3 under par, seven strokes behind Dustin Johnson in the starting strokes format. With rounds of 67-65-67-66, he finished as low man of the week with a 265 score, and for the tournament was 18 under par to finish T-2nd, three strokes behind winner Dustin Johnson. Of those in the top-11 of the FedExCup standings, Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler are the only players that didn't win in 2020.
2021 Notes: Finished 5th at the U.S. Open, his fourth start in the championship, and he hasn't finished worse than 6th. Was 2nd in the CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek, two strokes behind winner Jason Kokrak. Shot a final-round 66 to finish T-5th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, four shots back of the Harris English/Joaquin Niemann playoff. Shot 68-69 in his hometown event the Farmers Insurance Open to finish T-2nd, five shots back of winner Patrick Reed. At the Waste Management Phoneix Open was the second-round leader and third-round co-leader. Shot final round 71 and finished T-2nd, a shot back of winner Brooks Koepka. Finished T-3rd at the Masters in April, earning his sixth top-five in a major championship. Played in the final pairing in the final round and made four consecutive birdies (holes. 12-15) to cut Hideki Matsuyama's lead to two shots before hitting his tee shot at No. 16 in the water and making a triple bogey. Marked his first triple bogey in a major championship, he finished three shots back of Matsuyama.