Xander Schauffele parlays move to South Florida into PGA Championship, British Open wins

If Xander Schauffele needed any more validation that his move to South Florida from Las Vegas has been a boon to his career, he received it this weekend at Royal Troon.

Schauffele made the move last year like many others in his profession had the last two decades, landing in (where else but) Jupiter.

Before migrating from Las Vegas, Schauffele had more than 20 starts in major championships, without hoisting a trophy or donning a jacket.

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Now, after Sunday's bogey-free 65 at the British Open, he has won two of the last three majors, including the PGA Championship in May at Valhalla.

And since joining golf's royalty in the sport's mecca, he has achieved his highest world ranking, No. 2.

Schauffele followed his historic win at the PGA Championship in which he led wire-to-wire and finished with the best-ever score at a major championship, 21-under par, with a four-day total of 9-under 275 in Scotland. That was two shots better than Justin Rose and Billy Horschel.

Schauffele, 30, has made 41 starts the last two seasons and 23 times finished in the top 10. And he has not missed a cut.

He also has earned more than $24 million in prize money, more than the previous four years combined.

"You need to hole everything on a day like today, especially to beat someone like Xander, who's in the form he's in," Jupiter's Shane Lowry said Sunday after shooting a 68 and placing sixth, five shots behind Schauffele.

Suddenly, Scottie Scheffler's hold on Player of Year honors may not be so tight. Schauffele has some work to do but a win in the FedEx Cup playoffs could be the deciding factor.

Schauffele, who was born in San Diego and attended San Diego State, cited his friendship with Patrick Cantlay, ability to work on his game year round and the number of professional golfers in the area as his reasons for moving to Palm Beach County.

The current world rankings include eight area residents among the top 25 and 14 of the top 50.

And that does not include Tiger Woods or LIV golfers Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Joaquin Niemann.

Schauffele runs into Tiger, other pro golfers in Palm Beach County

In a recent episode of the Fore Play podcast, Schauffele spoke about running into Tiger and others, like Cantlay, Gary Woodland, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler on any given day.

"I see Tiger all the time, and it’s cool to see him swinging, getting ready for tournaments," he said.

"The games are incredible."

Rose, who was paired with Schauffele Sunday, was asked what he saw from the champion.

"A guy at the top of his game, a guy that has all the attributes that make him a great player and a great champion," he said. "He's obviously now learning that the winning is easy. He has a lot of horsepower … in the sense of he's good with a wedge, he's great with a putter, he hits the ball a long way, obviously his iron play is strong. So he's got a lot of weapons out there.

"I think probably one of his most unappreciated ones is his mentality. He's such a calm guy out there. I don't know what he's feeling, but he certainly makes it look very easy. He plays with a freedom, which kind of tells you as a competitor that he's probably not feeling a ton of the bad stuff. He's got a lot of runway ahead and a lot of exciting stuff ahead, I'm sure."

And now he has a Wanamaker Trophy and Claret Jug to add to his trophy case ... in Jupiter.

Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and golf reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Xander Schauffele parlays move to South Florida into PGA Championship, British Open wins