CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — Xander Schauffele has enjoyed going under the radar as the least-heralded member of American golf’s class of 2011.
That might not last much longer.
Come Sunday evening, Schauffele might be leaving Carnoustie with the claret jug.
The chilled-out 24-year-old golfer with the hard-to-pronounce name wound up in the last pairing on the final day of the British Open after upstaging playing partner Rory McIlroy in shooting a 4-under 67 on Saturday.
He’ll play on Sunday with Jordan Spieth, the most famous graduate from ’11 and a guy looking to go back-to-back at the world’s oldest major championship.
All the attention will be on Spieth.
Then again, Schauffele is used to that.
“All the guys I’ve talked to said, ‘Live it up while you can, fly under the radar,'” Schauffele said. “Like, just today, I played in front of what you call Rory’s crowd, I guess, and guys were just yelling all the time, even while he’s trying to putt, and he had to step off a few times. No one was yelling at me while I was putting.”
His father, Stefan, is half-French and half-German. He was an elite soccer player and decathlete, whose track-and-field career was cut short by a car accident on his way to training that cost him his sight in his left eye.
Stefan moved to America, discovered golf, became a PGA Tour professional and taught his son how to play the game.
Schauffele now has to take on Spieth, even if it does mean finally putting himself in the limelight.
“He’s such a nice guy,” Schauffele said. “If anything, we can hopefully get something going, and we can start feeding off each other. He won last year, and he’s playing great golf right now. So I think he’d be a lot of fun.”
THE BUZZ about hair had been about Tommy Fleetwood’s flowing locks. On Saturday it shifted to the buzz Jordan Spieth got in the barber chair before going out for his third round.
“It looked like a military grade haircut,” cracked Kevin Kisner, one of Spieth’s housemates this week.
Spieth said his hair was getting long so he went to a barber before heading over to the golf course. He intended to get his normal cut, but the barber had some other ideas.
“Very British haircut,” he said. “A little shaved on the sides, a little longer on top. It is what it is. Summertime, it works out.”
“How much did you pay?” one writer asked.
“Twenty pounds, I think,” Spieth said. “It was like a 9 pound haircut and I tipped them.”
“Did they know who you are?”
“I don’t think so,” Spieth replied. “He didn’t really say much.”
Whatever it cost, the haircut didn’t hurt. With the new style under his golf cap, Spieth went out and shot a 65 to share the lead going into the final round of the Open.
And on Sunday he’ll be more than happy to take the hat off for all to see if it means he’s won his second straight Open.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.