It was the greatest moment of her husband Xander Schauffele’s career, but Maya Schauffele says she was ‘blacking out’ after the 30-year-old’s PGA Championship victory at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville on Sunday.
‘I’m sorry, I’m blacking out,’ Maya told The Athletic, her voice reportedly trembling.
‘This means everything. Everything that he has worked hard for, it just goes to show that you’ll see results if you put in the work. He deserves it more than anything.
‘Why do I say that? I’ve seen the dedication, the work that he puts in, the hours. Even during off weeks, there’s never an off week; they’re constantly practicing. The grind never stops.’
Her husband, she said, had a ‘chip on his shoulder’ after blowing a one-stroke lead at the Wells Fargo Championship a week earlier.
Xander Schauffele of the United States poses with his wife, Maya Schauffele, after the win
The couple met while attending San Diego State and ultimately got married in July of 2021
Xander Schauffele and his wife, Maya, are pictured during the 2020 Ryder Cup
‘I’m sure that chip that was on his shoulder is gone, oh, my goodness,’ Maya, a photographer, said as she tried to compose herself. ‘I’m really quite emotional. I think what this means to him is that this is exactly what he’s meant to do — to play golf at this level. He’s doing what he loves.
‘I’m sorry, I’m blacking out right now,’ she added.
The couple met while attending San Diego State University and ultimately got married in July of 2021. They have a pair of dogs: Chewie and Momo
Schauffele’s scramble for a 72nd-hole birdie at Valhalla — where Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy also delivered exciting final-day victories in decades past — set the major-championship scoring record. It edged out DeChambeau by a shot after he, too, scrapped for an 18th-hole birdie to briefly tie for the lead.
The win ended a two-year run of close calls with no victories for Schauffele, the 2021 Olympic gold medalist who moves up to second in the world rankings. Just over the past nine weeks, he has held the Saturday lead in two tournaments only to see Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy snatch it away.
This time, Bryson DeChambeau was trying to do the same, but couldn’t. That the runner-up was part of the LIV Golf league that has disrupted the sport and left its future in limbo felt less like a hair-raising controversy and more like an afterthought given the entertaining show he and Schauffele put on.
‘I knew that birdies had to be made, so there was some sort of aggression that I knew I needed coming into today,’ Schauffele said, a nod to the fact that a major-record 15 players entered the final round at double-digits under par.
Schauffele’s final birdie left him at 6-under 65 for the round. He finished at 21 under to break the major-scoring record previously shared by Brooks Koepka (2018 PGA) and Henrik Stenson (2016 British).
The score was low; getting there was anything but easy.
Twice on the back nine, Schauffele hit drives straight down the middle, only to arrive at a ball specked with mud, which can throw the next shot off line.
