“The best round I’ve played”: Xander Schauffele reflects on Open triumph
Xander Schauffele reflects on his triumph at the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon, whilst joint-second placed Justin Rose, and newcomer Dan Brown open up about their concluding rounds. Daniel Wales reports.
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00:00Applause filled the room as champion golfer of the year Xander Schofle reflected on his second major win of the year.
00:08It really is the coolest, one of the coolest feelings I've ever had in my life.
00:11I got chills walking down and quickly had to zap myself back into focus because the tournament wasn't over yet.
00:17So, you know, I'm just I can't wait to to enjoy this with my family.
00:23It was hard. It was it was it was very difficult.
00:28It I think winning the first one helped me a lot today on the back nine.
00:32I had some feeling of calmness come through, and it was very helpful
00:40on what is what has been one of the hardest back nines I've ever played in a tournament.
00:44So it's I mean, it's a dream come true to be to win two majors in one year is,
00:51you know, it took me forever just to win one and to have two now is something else.
00:56You know, in the end, it makes it feel like it's all worth it.
00:58So, you know, you know, my wife's here, you know, both my parents, my brother and my uncle.
01:04So sort of, you know, my my day ones, as I would say, they were all here, too.
01:10They haven't enjoyed it with me yet.
01:11But, you know, tonight will tonight will be awesome.
01:14And when asked how his final round compared to all others in his career, he responded like this
01:20at the very tip top.
01:24Best round I've played.
01:26English golfer and one time major winner Justin Rose tied for second.
01:30He spoke of his emotions after completing his final round.
01:37Two emotions gutted when I walked off the course and it hit me hard
01:42because I was so strong out there today.
01:44You know, I kind of got off to the start I wanted.
01:48I really played the way I wanted today.
01:51I got off on the front foot.
01:52I played my way right into the tournament, early doors, felt comfortable with it all day.
01:57Did a lot of the hard things really well on the golf course today.
01:59And yeah, just a critical moment sort of midway through the back nine,
02:04just momentum wise, obviously Xander got it going.
02:06I had a couple of really good parts that didn't fall.
02:08And then suddenly like that little lead stretched, you know.
02:11So but in terms of how I played and the execution of,
02:15I would say my emotions today, my mindset,
02:18I left it all out there and super proud of how I competed.
02:21Finally, North Haliton's Dan Brown hard led the competition in the early rounds.
02:26He tied for 10th in his first major.
02:29Yeah, if you'd have told me that at the start of the week,
02:31obviously I would have been very pleased.
02:34It's a little bit I wanted to do better and be higher up the board.
02:39But yeah, it's quite big.
02:40I had like seven weeks out with an injury of my knee not long ago,
02:45and then I haven't really got firing since.
02:46So it's nice to have a good result under my belt again.
02:50I've got three weeks off, but I'll be working hard and Prague's the next one.
02:55So I'll be, hopefully I can be fit and ready for that one.