Xander Schauffele & LIV Golf: Open champ’s stance, merger prediction, theory on rumours

Xander Victor Schauffele has aptly been living up to his middle name in recent months. The 30-year-old golf star clinched his second major win of the year at The Open, delivering a flawless six-under-par 65 in the final round.

He pipped Justin Rose and Billy Horschel by a couple of strokes to lift the Claret Jug for the first time, adding to his PGA Championship victory in May. Schauffele described the back nine at Royal Troon as the toughest he's ever faced, yet he breezed through it in a mere 31 shots.

For years, Schauffele was seen as golf's nearly-man - an immensely gifted player who always fell just short of securing titles. Now with two major wins to his name, the American is aiming to become only the sixth man in history to win a career grand slam (all four majors). However, with rumours of a move to LIV Golf still circulating, his opportunity may be in jeopardy. Let's examine the situation.

LIV Golf 'motivation'

On Sunday, Schauffele confessed that LIV Golf pair Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson motivated him to secure victory at Royal Troon. In 2016, the duo engaged in one of the most memorable major battles ever, with Stenson narrowly defeating Mickelson to claim the Claret Jug.

"I watched the highlights of Phil and Henrik in 2016 to motivate myself," Schauffele admitted. "I guess that paid off pretty nicely!" Mickelson and Stenson both jumped ship to LIV Golf shortly after its inception in 2022.

Stance on LIV Golf

Schauffele's father and swing coach, Stefan, definitively stated back in May that his son had no interest in joining LIV Golf. He insisted Xander was more focused on creating a legacy than growing his wealth, and outright rejected any possibility of his son even considering such a move.

"No chance," Stefan said unequivocally when asked if Xander might be tempted by the fledgling tour. "He is not chasing the money. Xander is about legacy. And in my opinion - just as his father - there was never a chance."

In 2022, Schauffele revealed he'd had a meeting with LIV, although decided to turn them down. "I went to collect an appearance fee, I'm not going to sit here and lie about it," he said. "Nothing really came of it except playing a tournament on a different continent and me collecting some cash."

Refusing 'hundreds of millions'

According to Stefan, Xander's commitment to the PGA is unwavering to the extent that even if LIV offered "hundreds of millions of dollars" his answer would still be a resounding 'no'. He said: "What we told LIV in Saudi Arabia, with Xander beside me, was that if there is no path back to the PGA Tour and if there is no chance at world ranking points we do not have anything to talk about.

"Even if you throw hundreds of millions of dollars at him. That word still stands. I am not called 'The Ogre' without reason. I keep my word."

In December, Jon Rahm was tempted to join LIV Golf with an eye-watering contract reported to be worth $300million (£232m), making it the richest deal in golf's history. With two major wins under his belt, matching Rahm's tally, Schauffele could well be in line for a similar offer from the controversial Saudi-backed tour.

Schauffele's theory

Xander Schauffele has a theory as to why rumours persist about him jumping ship to LIV Golf. His father's comments aside, the California-born ace has kept his cards close to his chest regarding his future over the last few years.

While speaking on the Fore Play podcast in January, Schauffele admitted he tends to sidestep the topic when quizzed about his loyalty to the PGA Tour. "It's funny, I mean, I've just tried - when asked about it, I feel like I've just tried to be as honest as possible," he said.

"And I just dodge the question. Because I don't really - I'm not going to pledge to the Tour. And I'm the only guy - there's maybe a handful of guys who've done this - but I'm not like, 'I'm going to play here forever.' And I'm not saying, 'I'm going to go there forever.' I just say, I'm here right now. Which is just a fact and then I get wrecked on the matter."

He added: "The funniest thing is that everyone that says they're going to stay - as soon as I hear someone saying, I'm for sure staying and I'm pledging, I'm like, you're gone. I'm just like, ugh... you just end up lying."

Merger prediction

Schauffele thinks it might take "four or five years" for the PGA Tour to iron out their issues with LIV Golf. Despite ongoing discussions about a potential merger between the two tours, progress seems to have hit a wall.

There's still hope that an agreement can be reached, yet Schauffele isn't holding his breath for an imminent resolution. However, he believes once a deal is in place, the current bitterness will fade away swiftly.

"I don't know what the timeframe would be, but four, five years," he said last month, adding: "I guess it might even be longer than that, who even knows, but this will just be a small blip everyone will laugh about, remember when golf was really fractured and everyone was talking crap about golf and where it is and all that stuff, you'll laugh about it in five or six years.

"It's funny how media and people will behave in certain environments when you kind of take your self out of it. So I imagine golf will be back together, everyone will be playing golf again together. I don't know what that will look like, but I imagine people will be competing against each other again and the fans will have what they want in that respect."