"The most fun I had losing in quite some time" - Xander Schauffele on his $6,500,000 second-place finish at Tour Championship
With $18 million on the line, any loss like Xander Schauffele's has to be tough. The golfer played incredibly well at the Tour Championship, finishing 22 under par for the weekend after gaining eight strokes in the final round. However, it was far from sufficient.
Viktor Hovland was even better. As dominant as Schauffele was, finishing six shots clear of Wyndham Clark, he was well behind Hovland's -27 score. Despite the loss, Schauffele still earned $6.5 million, which is more than most winners for PGA Tour events get.
Hovland earned $18 million, but this was still a worthy loss as Schauffele said to Golf Monthly:
"Yeah, I'll hold my head up high. It was the most fun I had losing in quite some time. It's such a weird feeling. I shot 62. I lost by five. Just kudos to Havi. He played unbelievably well the last few weeks to get himself into this position and to really just put a cherry on top for himself and his team."
Schauffele gave credit to Hovland, who was on another planet with his performance. Throughout the whole weekend, neither Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler (who began at -10), Rory McIlroy, or anyone else could come close to the Norwegian golfer.
Ryder Cup can't come soon enough for Xander Schauffele
Xander Schauffele is playing great, and he's ready for the Ryder Cup. In a few weeks, he will join the Americans and try to defeat Europe in Italy. On the other side, the Europeans will have Hovland, so a bit of a rivalry could form.
Schauffele said (via Golf Monthly):
"It's five weeks away, so I'm going to take some time off and I'm going to have to rebuild that confidence come Italy and the Ryder Cup. But, yeah, I think it's definitely - I think we're working on - my team and I, we're working on the right stuff to get these results."
"Kind of playing sort of whatever coming into the playoffs to sort of peak and play really well at the right time is important, and so I think we're working on the right things.”
Perhaps it will be here that he finally earns revenge for the loss he suffered at the Tour Championship. Of all the PGA Tour events, even the majors, it's the one that has the most to offer winners.
With that in mind, it's also the one that has the most to offer the nonwinners. For reference, Xander Schauffele's $6.5 million payout is more than any major winner got this year- including Jon Rahm for winning the Masters.
That probably means that the world number six golfer is probably not too upset about the loss. He'd like to win, but a second place in the Tour Championship far exceeds a loss in any other tournament.
Still, Xander Schauffele likely does not want to come second to Viktor Hovland, be it at a team event, for a second time in a very short period.