PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Don’t feel bad for Xander Schauffele having to return the Claret Jug when he arrived at Royal Portrush to defend his title in the Open Championship. It’s not as if he had anywhere to keep it.
Schauffele has won eight times in his PGA Tour career, including The Open, the PGA Championship and the Tour Championship. There’s also the Olympic gold medal from Tokyo in 2021.
Where to keep it all? Not at his house. Schauffele said his parents keep all his trophies, “probably in a bank vault.” They have a home in San Diego, and his father is building a place on Kauai, living in what Stefan Schauffele calls “the container.”
The gold medal?
“I actually have no idea where that is, to be completely honest,” Schauffele said.
It’s not all that surprising considering how simply Schauffele and his wife, Maya Lowe, prefer to live. He celebrates a little more than Scottie Scheffler, but, much like with the world’s No. 1 player, it’s on to the next tournament to start over.
“What am I going to do with it? I don’t really invite people over to my house. Am I just going to go look at it myself?” Schauffele said. “I don’t want to walk into a trophy room like, ‘Look how great I am.’ I was just raised to think that way, and it’s kind of stuck.”
That begs the question: What is on the shelves of their Florida home if not trophies?
“My wife hung up some pictures of me in my gym of me winning the Olympic medal, and she put it so high up I can’t reach it,” Schauffele said. “I have to get a ladder now, and it bothers me. If anything, put up me in a Masters jacket, like that would piss me off, you know what I mean? Something like that is more motivating.”
If it were up to Schauffele, he would hang photos of his dogs. Or nothing. Maybe a clock.
“I’m always late, so maybe a clock would be good for me,” Schauffele said.
He said Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley has told him to be sure to enjoy big wins, and Schauffele figures he will do that at some point.
“But right now I really want to keep my head down and keep charging,” he said.