PGA Championship recap: Xander Schauffele wins with dramatic final hole birdie
Xander Schauffele held off Bryson DeChambeau and the prospect of a playoff to claim his first major win at the PGA Championship at Valhalla.
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The ball lipped around the hole and drops for his maiden major title. He cards a final round 65 to finish at 21-under.
Bryson DeChambeau at 20-under must settle for second.
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Xander Schauffele wins the PGA Championship
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MAKES IT
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Now Xander...for the win....
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Morikawa goes first and sinks it to finish 15-under. His first birdie of the day.
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DeChambeau had a similar effort which he sunk just 10 minutes ago.
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Schauffele lines up his chip. Can probably rule out bogey. He gets it up there and has five feet for birdie and the win.
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DeChambeau is watching a big screen from the driving range.
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It goes left and short but is safe. An up and down for the win. That's some shot.
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Yep, he'll have his feet in the bunker as he hits. He's still going for the green.
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Xander in a tough spot here. Trying to work out his stance. Will be have to stand in the bunker to hit it?
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He needs a birdie to win. Par means playoff. Bogey and he's thrown it away.
Playoff would be 13, 17 and 18. Aggregate score.
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They head off the green and all eyes on Xander now.
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Lowry for par and ends at 14-under in a share of fifth.
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Theegala finishes with a long birdie at the last to end at 12-under.
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Xander on the 18th tee Just don't go right near the water. He goes left and just short of the bunker DeChambeau hit out of. Question will be where his stance will be.
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Are we going to see a playoff?
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Schauffele pars the 17th and goes to the 18th tee tied for the lead. A par five where birdie is certainly on the cards. Would be some way to win your first major.
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Morikawa pars the 17th. Just didn't get it going today.
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Schauffele lines up his chip. Has a decent look at the green. And what an effort. Rolls it to within two feet and should be a simple par putt.
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Xander has 153 to the hole. A lot of sand and he lands right of the green. Will need an up-and-down to remain at 20-under.
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A six at the last for Hovland. It doesn't matter, he was going to finish third regardless after the birdie didn't drop.
So it's Xander vs Bryson at the moment. Are we going to see a playoff or can Xander close it out?
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Hovland's looked in but broke really late. And he misses the par putt as well.
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Now Hovland. Can he join him? No. Goes by the hole.
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DeChambeau cards a final round 64 and finishes at 20-under!
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DeChambeau to go first..it drops. Bryson ties the lead!
At the 17th...and Xander finds the fairway bunker with his drive.
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Can either or both of them convert?
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DeChambeau leaves about 10 feet for birdie.
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Hovland chips on and leaves about eight feet for birdie at the last. Now Bryson...
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It's up to Hovland and DeChambeau to make a birdie here because it doesn't look like Schauffele is going to make a mistake.
He has 33 feet for birdie at 16 and it rolls a foot by the hole. Nice speed. Easy putt for par.
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Bryson 230 yards out from the bunker. Stays low and into the rough but he will have a better look at the pin than Viktor.
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Hovland to go first. He has 2 iron. 249 yards to the 18th green.
Comes up well short to the right. He'll still have 40 yards to and up and down birdie chance.
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Schauffele at 16th fairway and again lands safely on the green.
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DeChambeau taking his time to work out what to do from the 18th bunker. He has to go for it.
Up ahead on the 18th green Bob McIntyre sinks a great eagle putt to move into a share of eighth.
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Schauffele off the tee on the 16th and goes right but lands safe in the fairway.
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DeChambeau finds the fairway bunker on the 18th, Hovland just short of the same bunker.
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The lead remains one. Hovland and Bryson will need to make birdie at the par five last or will be relying on Xander to make a mistake.
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Schauffele makes par at 16.
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Par at 17 for Bryson. Now Viktor for birdie...just misses.
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Schauffele lands safe at 15. Long birdie putt but should be an easy two putts for par.
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Viktor Hovland from 180 out on the 17th and he sticks it right in there. What a shot. A birdie look for the lead.
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Xander Schauffele on the tee at 15. Three par fours and then the final hole par five to come. He lands in the first cut on the left.
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Two to play for Viktor Hovland and Bryson DeChambeau. Can either of them get to -20?
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What a birdie for Bryson DeChambeau. Amazing recovery to claim a three at the 16th.
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Meanwhile, in Indy. Scott McLaughlin has taken pole for next week's Indy500.
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Pars for Hovland and DeChambeau.
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Viktor Hovland goes for birdie at 14...just rolls by.
Xander takes solo lead
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Schauffele drains the birdie putt at 12 and he's now 20-under. Leads by one with six to play.
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DeChambeau in the bunker at 15. Hovland though lands with 12 feet for a chance at birdie.
Morikawa still on the par train - makes it 12 straight.
Pars for Hovland and Bryson
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They both par the par three 14th. Hovland remains in the lead, DeChambeau one back.
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Bryson DeChambeau not out of it. He birdies the 13th and is still one back.
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Xander Schauffele for a birdie at 11...it sinks and he moves back in the lead.
Viktor Hovland takes solo lead
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Hovland with a 12 footer for birdie at 13 and he has the outright lead!
Two-shot swing
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Xander Schauffele bogeys 10 and Viktor Hovland birdies 12. Just like that we have a tie for the lead.
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Xander in the fairway bunker at the par five 10th. Still looking to go for the green with five wood from 284 yards.
Falls 15 yards short of the green and he's in the deep rough.
Front nine done
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Xander Schauffele birdies nine!
The lead is two again. Schauffele goes four-under through nine and holds a two-shot lead in a major with nine to play.
Collin Morikawa pars every hole on the front nine. He has the par five 10th ahead which could break the par run.
Steady Schauffele
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Another great approach from Schauffele and he'll have a birdie look at nine.
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Hovland also birdies the 10th.
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Bryson DeChambeau cuts the lead to one with a birdie at the par five 10th.
Rose blooming
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A few minutes back I said Justin Rose is probably too far back to make a charge. Well he's just gone birdie-birdie and is three off the lead.
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Pars for Schauffele and Morikawa at the par three eighth. Xander's lead remains at two.
Scottie Scheffler's wild week
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Scheffler finishes his week with a six-under 65 and sits at 13-under. He can finally go home to his wife and newborn and explain what a wild weekend he had. According to reports charges following his arrest will be dropped.
Who's in the mix
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Schauffele, DeChambeau and Hovland all three under for the day. While Morikawa is even. Can't rule out Lowry but expecting the winner to be one of those five.
Justin Rose and Sahith Theegala are five back with plenty of holes remaining but that seems too much.
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Morikawa misses his birdie chance for another par and he's now three back.
Schauffele extends lead again
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Schauffele birdie at seven. And he's 18-under.
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Scheffler is five-under on the back nine and now four off the lead.
Hovland runs hot
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Three straight birdies and Hovland is now -16.
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A new name joins the leaderboard. Lee Hodges is now at -14.
Collin Morikawa meanwhile makes his sixth straight par and remains at -15. DeChambeau pars the seventh and is still one back from Xander. He sinks a 10-footer for par.
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Scheffler moves into a share of eighth at 12-under.
Here comes Bryson
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Schauffele for another birdie at five...comes up short. Bryson DeChambeau meanwhile makes another birdie at the sixth and he's one off the lead.
Schauffele extends lead
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The lead is two. Schauffele makes birdie at four after finding the rough off the tee. Impressive golf. Morikawa just quietly making pars so far.
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The rough is no trouble for Schauffele who chips on to within four feet and will have a birdie look.
It's getting tight at the top
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DeChambeau joins the 15-unders and playing partner Hovland also birdies the fifth to go to -14.
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Shane Lowry now at -15 with a birdie at the fourth. Xander still leads but his drive at the par four fourth finds thick rough.
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Schauffele has a chance to extend his lead at the par three third but it lips out.
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Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy both now at 10-under.
Impressive recoveries
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Schauffele and Morikawa both walk away with pars. Morikawa put his approach from 87 yards out within three feet and Xander went even closer from the bunker.
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Both Schauffele and Morikawa in bad spots off the tee at the second. Morikawa gets no where near the green from the thick rough. He's facing a long up-and-down for par. Schauffele gets much more on his and finds the greenside bunker.
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Shane Lowry misses another birdie attempt at two and remains -13.
Schauffele takes solo lead
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Another great putt at the first, this time it's Xander Schauffele who makes a long birdie and moves to 16-under. Morikawa opens with par. Bryson meanwhile birdies the second and is 14-under.
Sahith Theegala joins the lead
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Huge putt on the first for Theegala from 20 feet plus for birdie and he moves to 15-under. We have a three-way tie. With Lowry lining up a birdie to move to 14-under...but he misses.
Final pairing tee off
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Xander Schauffele leads things off and his drive lands in the first cut. Collin Morikawa straight down the middle.
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Shane Lowry with a great approach at the second leaves about four feet for birdie to move one off the leaders.
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Sahith Theegala and Shane Lowry both about to tee off and then only left is the overnight leaders. Either of these two would be popular winners if they end up lifting the trophy.
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Amazing effort earlier from Argentina's Alejandro Tosti who drove the green at the par four 13th. That's is ball, the yellow dot, as he converted for eagle. The only player to go for the green all week.
Lowest round so far
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England's Jordan Smith has had some day shooting a seven-under 64 after starting the day even in a share of 73rd.
Fox finishes 75th
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New Zealand's Ryan Fox is done for the day after shooting a final round 74, his worst of the week. But it made a sixth straight cut at a major and receives around $36,439.
Final round
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Welcome to coverage of the final round of the PGA Championship. It's set up to be an exciting fourth round to a major with eight players within three shots of the lead.
Two-time major winner Collin Morikawa and often reminded no-time major winner Xander Schauffele share the lead at 15-under. They tee off at 6.35am.
Collin Morikawa went to sleep with a share of the lead at the PGA Championship. He’s well-aware that by the time he reaches the first tee box for the final round, he might not have it anymore.
A low-scoring Saturday left a major-record 15 players at double-digits under par. They were bunched within five shots of the lead held by Morikawa and Xander Schauffele heading into Sunday’s finale at Valhalla Golf Club, which has mostly been soft, calm and defenseless all week.
“I’ve been in tournaments where you’ve lost the lead by the time you tee off,” said Morikawa, in search of his third major. “It could be like that tomorrow, who knows?”
Among those with a chance to catch up to Morikawa and Schauffele before they hit their first shots are Sahith Theegala. He shot 63 to finish at 14 under, one shot out of the lead.
Also, Shane Lowry. The Irishman missed a birdie putt by a sliver on the 18th hole that would have given him a major-championship record of 61. Lowry is at 13 under.
“I had a weird feeling through seven holes that I was going to shoot 61 today,” said Justin Rose, who played with Lowry on Saturday, made five birdies over his first seven holes, but “only” shot 64.
He is three shots out of the lead.
Some other angles to watch on the final day at the PGA:
X FACTOR
Last week, Schauffele had a one-shot lead over Rory McIlroy heading into the final round of the Wells Fargo and ended up losing by five. He says to win his first major, and win his first tournament since the 2022 Scottish Open, he needs to “stay in my lane,” and not worry about other scores or other players.
Along those lines, he is trying to treat Sunday like a Sunday at any other tournament, not like a day where he is trying to finally break through.
“At the end of the day, wherever the cards fall, they fall,” said Schauffele, who won a gold medal at the Olympics three years ago. “Yeah, it would mean a lot, obviously.”
MAD SCIENTIST
Bryson DeChambeau says he’s feeling as good or better about his game as he did in 2020. That was the year he overpowered Winged Foot to win his first major — the U.S. Open.
After making eagle on the par-5 18th, he’ll head into Sunday only two shots off the lead at Valhalla.
DeChambeau said part of his renaissance comes because he’s excited about new clubs he’s helped craft using the 3D printing process.
“It’s a slow but study grind to improving my equipment each and every week,” he said.
COMEBACK KID
Justin Thomas came from seven shots back to win the PGA Championship two years ago in 2022.
By those standards, Sunday’s comeback looks doable.
Thomas chipped in from 30 yards away in the rough on the par-3 14th to highlight a 67 that sent him home five shots out of the lead.
Thomas grew up in Louisville and knows no win at Valhalla would be more popular.
“I saw my freshman year English teacher today. I saw a teammate of mine, a guy that I drove to school with every day in high school,” he said. “There’s just a lot of people I’m seeing that I didn’t necessarily (think I’d see), but it’s also where I grew up, so I guess it’s a part of it.”