Xander Schauffele’s meteoric rise this year may have come as a surprise to many but not Max Homa who realised his immense talent years ago.
Max Homa predicted Xander Schauffele’s rise to stardom three years before the two-time major winner emerged as a golf superstar. The 30-year-old is enjoying a stellar season where he’s won both the PGA Championship and The Open Championship, with Schauffele winning the latter last week having finished two shots clear of Justin Rose and Billy Horschel
While he did achieve a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a major had so far eluded the San Diego native until 2024 where his emergence on the grandest stage has seen him tally as many majors as Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, and Bryson DeChambeau.
Prior to his two championship victories this season, Schauffele had been regarded as perhaps the best player of his generation not to win a major while back in 2021, fellow golf star Max Homa, 33, retained faith that his one-time U.S. Open partner would go on to achieve greatness in the sport.
Having recorded a podcast with Shane Bacon after the tournament that Jon Rahm won at Torrey Pines, Homa was left impressed by Schauffele’s performance, which saw him finish just five shots behind the Spaniard in T7, and predicted it wouldn’t be long before he racks up major titles.
“That kid is so freaking good,” he told Bacon. “I was reading comments about how [Schauffele] doesn’t close. Well, Rahm hadn’t closed either. I just wish people were a little more patient. I know that’s going to not happen, but he is good at every part of the game of golf. By good I mean really, really good.
I’m obviously biased because I’m a friend of his and a huge fan of his but like, in my opinion there will be a time when he’s going to win one of these things and he’s going to be the guy, similar to Rahm, where it could get scary for a bit with how many he might be able to win.
“I’m talking majors or PGA Tour events. Both … he’s that guy. When he starts winning these things, it could just start coming multiple times a year and you wouldn’t even be shocked when he does it because it just looks so simple. He’s really good.” With already two majors to his name, only Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, and Jordan Spieth rank as the three players under 40 to have more major wins than
Schauffele.
