Xander Schauffele says his major near misses fueled his PGA Championship victory and admits he 'doesn't really remember' his winning putt going in

With a chip on his shoulder and a monkey on his back, Xander Schauffele admitted that the last two years of near-misses fueled his PGA Championship victory on Sunday.

On no fewer than 12 occasions he had finished in the top 10 on one of golf’s biggest stages, but the 30-year-old finally claimed his first major title here at Valhalla Golf Club.

The Californian shook off yet another runner-up finish at the Wells Fargo Championship last week to cling on to a wire-to-wire lead in Louisville, Kentucky.

And, after years of always being the bridesmaid, never the bride, Schauffele admitted he had a chip on his shoulder - one that motivated his Valhalla victory.

‘Definitely a chip on the shoulder there,’ he said after lifting the Wanamaker Trophy. ‘It just is what it is at the end of the day.

‘You guys are asking the questions, probing, and I have to sit here and answer it. It's a lot easier to answer it with this thing sitting next to me now, obviously,’ he continued, gesturing to the gleaming trophy by his side as he addressed the media.

‘It's just fuel, fuel to my fire. It always has been growing up, and it certainly was leading up to this.’

Schauffele had failed to win since his back-to-back victories at the Travelers Championship and Genesis Scottish Open in 2022. In that time, he had four runner-up and 21 top-10 finishes.

‘I've become very patient not knocking off any wins in the last couple years,’ he added. ‘The people closest to me know how stubborn I can be.

‘Winning, I said it earlier, is a result. This is awesome. It's super sweet. But when I break it down, I'm really proud of how I handled certain moments on the course today, different from the past.’

Schauffele has seven PGA Tour wins and an Olympic Gold medal under his belt but, until Sunday evening, he had yet to enter the major winner’s circle.

‘I don't think I'd ever look at it as lacking,’ he said. ‘I looked at it as someone that is trying really hard and needs more experience. All those close calls for me, even last week, that sort of feeling, it gets to you at some point. It just makes this even sweeter.’

Louisville was almost headed for a two-way horse race to rival the Kentucky Derby when Bryson DeChambeau birdied the 18th to tie Schauffele at the top and leave him needing to match it to avoid a playoff.

Schauffele admitted that a shootout against the big-hitting DeChambeau was an outcome he was desperately trying to avoid.

‘I was pretty nervous,’ he said of his pilgrimage up the 18th. ‘I walked up, I saw a little left to right. I kept reading it, kept kind of panning. Started to look right to left to me and I thought, oh my gosh, this is not what I want for a winning putt.

‘Fortunately, it was uphill, it was six feet-ish. I ended up playing it straight. It did go left, caught the left side. Just so much relief.

‘When it lipped in -- I don't really remember it lipping in, I just heard everyone roaring and I just looked up to the sky in relief.’