Eight years ago here at Royal Troon we got a titanic two-horse race as Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson conjured an Open Championship duel for the ages.
Ahead of the final round of the 152nd championship yesterday, there were so many runners and riders bunched up on the leaderboard, it resembled the chaotic, tangled start to that infamous void Grand National.
By tea-time, though, the thoroughbred that is Xander Schauffele was first past the post as he gently cantered home like a cuddie out for a clippety-clop on Troon beach.
And if we shoehorn any more excruciating equine references into this introduction, we’ll have to pay a subscription to the British Horse Society.
In the end, it was a procession to a coronation. Schauffele was superb as he added the Claret Jug to the US PGA Championship crown he won earlier this season.
His record in the four majors of 2024 reads eighth, first, seventh, first. It’s a tremendous body of work. In his six previous Open outings, Schauffele had finished outside the leading 26 just once.
This was a triumph that had been coming and it was completed with great aplomb. A wonderfully assembled bogey-free six-under 65 gave the 30-year-old a nine-under aggregate and a two-shot victory over the valiant duo of Justin Rose and Billy Horschel.
During the course of this exacting test of physical, mental and technical resolve on the Ayrshire coast, Schauffele spilled just six shots all week. He was a thoroughly deserving Champion Golfer of the Year.
For the first time since 1982, American golfers have made a clean sweep of the major titles. Tom Watson was the winner of The Open that year at Troon.
Once Schauffele got his nose in front yesterday, nobody was going to stick a star-spangled spanner in his works.
“At the very tip top,” smiled a calm, composed Schauffele when asked how his final round rated on his order of merit. “It’s the best round I've played.”
In this game,, winning ain’t easy. “It was hard,” added Schauffele. “I think winning the first (major) helped me a lot today on the back nine. I had some feelings of calmness coming through.
“That was very helpful on what has been one of the hardest back nines I've ever played in a tournament. It's a dream come true to win two majors in one year. It took me forever just to win one. To have two now is something else.”
Schauffele won the Scottish Open in 2022. Having completed a double whammy in the cradle of the game, he emphasised the importance of that triumph two years ago.
“Winning the Scottish Open was big because it meant my game could travel,” said the new world No 2, who now moves on to Paris to defend his Olympic title. “To double up and win a major in Scotland is even cooler.”
Open Sunday had dawned with Horschel holding a one-shot lead and playing in the final group of the final round of a major for the first time. Some 24 players were separated by six shots. The R&A officials had the jaws of life apparatus on hand in case they needed to prise them apart.
In a tightly packed scene that would’ve left sardines gasping, Schauffele was lurking just two shots back and would pounce as affairs began to unravel.
The unheralded Daniel Brown, just one back, faded away early as did Sam Burns. Shane Lowry, the Open champion in 2019, made a run at it with four birdies in five holes from the fourth but the Irishman couldn’t maintain the push.
As Horschel traded birdies and bogeys, Scottie Scheffler, the world No 1, had been manoeuvring himself into position but he saw his hopes savagely wounded by an uncharacteristic three-putt double-bogey on the ninth.
Rose, aiming for the first English win in The Open since 1992, was well in it too but a bogey on 12 was a costly slip.
At one point, it was the South African Thriston Lawrence, looking to emulate The Open win of his decorated compatriot Bobby Locke in this parish back in 1950, who had assumed command.
The 27-year-old got to the seven-under mark through the turn but he too would come a cropper on the 12th.
That slip opened the door for Schauffele and he would mount a decisive, title-winning thrust. Having pulled a brilliant birdie out of the hat on the 11th, the Californian picked up birdies at the 13th and the 14th to move two clear before another gain on the 16th gilded the lily.
“I looked up at the board there, and I knew, if I could birdie 16 then that would be special,” he said as he gave himself the kind of sizeable cushion you’d get in a Bedouin tent.
“Once I hit the green on 17, I had to really try to focus and not let my mind wander too much. That walk up 18 truly is the coolest with the yellow leaderboards and the fans and the standing ovation. I got chills walking down there.”
Rose, who was also striving to become the first qualifier since Paul Lawrie in 1999 to win The Open, birdied the last in a gallant 67. Horschel made a stour-hearted surge and birdied his last three holes in a 68. It was too little too late, though.
Schauffele was already celebrating another major moment.
