Xander Schauffele records lowest round in Major history with electric start to 2024 PGA Championship
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Xander Schauffele shot the lowest round in Major history and became the first man to shoot two 62s in Grand Slam events after an electric start to the US PGA Championship at Valhalla.
Schauffele leads the tournament in Kentucky by four shots at the time of writing after signing for a nine-under-par round on Thursday lunchtime (follow our live updates), less than a year after the American became just the third man to shoot 62 in a Major. As well as making the lowest-ever score and becoming the first man to make two 62s, he is also the first man to shoot 62 at the PGA Championship and the new owner of Valhalla’s course record having beaten Jose Maria Olazabal’s 24-year-old record by one shot.
The 30-year-old, who is the current men’s golf Olympic champion but has never won a Major, has enjoyed an excellent 2024 to date with a host of top-ten finishes helping him to a career-high third in the Official World Golf Rankings. He spent much of 2023 being strongly linked with a move to LIV after being strongly critical of PGA Tour boss Jay Monahan.
He arrived at the year’s second men’s Major off the back of an eighth-placed finish at the Masters and a runner-up finish at last week’s Wells Fargo Championship where a disappointing Sunday with the putter saw him lose out to Rory McIlroy. But Schauffele had clearly put that to the back of his mind as he got his round underway from the 10th tee on Thursday. He had to settle for a par on the par-5 but got into the red with a birdie two at the par-3 11th, and a further four followed in a blemish-free 31 opening nine.
Four more birdies followed on the par-30 back nine and the Ryder Cup star had an opportunity to become the first man to shoot 61 in a Major, needing to go under par on one of his final two holes. Instead, he produced a sublime up-and-down to save par at the 8th (his 17th) before a safe two-putt on the 9th ensured he’d sign for a second Major 62 in just 11 months but, most importantly, the lowest score to par in Major history.
Despite the incredible start, Schauffele refused to get carried away as he seeks a first win since the 2022 Scottish Open.
“Its a great start to a big tournament,” Schauffele said. “One I’m obviously always going to take, but it’s just Thursday. That’s about it.”
Despite being without a win for almost two years, the American believes his form is trending towards the best he’s ever shown and now he’s keen to turn that into trophies.
“I feel there’s spurts, moments in time where you feel like you can control the ball really well; you’re seeing the greens really well; you’re chipping really well. But over a prolonged period, it’s tough to upkeep high performance. I’d say it’s very close to it, if not it.
“I think not winning makes you want to win more, as weird as that is. For me, at least, I react to it and I want it more and more and more, which makes me want to work harder and harder and harder. The top feels far away, and I feel like I have a lot of work to do. But just slowly chipping away at it.”
Until 2017 no man had ever broken 63 in a Major. Branden Grace became the first to do so at The Open at Royal Birkdale. The South African shot an eight-under-par third round on the par 70 layout to get his name etched into golf history. It took another six years for anyone else to match the feat. That man was Rickie Fowler at last year’s US Open but before he’d even had time to celebrate or for the ink to dry on his first-round scorecard, Schauffele matched his fellow Californian’s score around LA Country Club.
Neither player went on to win the tournament, with Wyndham Clark lifting the trophy, something Schauffele will want to avoid come Sunday night. Check our expert’s view on who will win the PGA Championship to see if he backed Xander.
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Rob specializes in the DP World Tour, PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and the Ryder Cup, spending large chunks of his days reading about, writing about, and watching the tours each month.
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Xander Schauffele has made history as the first man to record two rounds of 62 in golf's Majors.
