British Open Final Round Fact or Fiction: Xander Schauffele Is the Player of the Year

The SI Golf staff debates the two-time major champ as the game's best and if the U.S. hot streak continues at the Paris Olympics.

Xander Schauffele has two wins in 2024 and they're both majors. / Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to the final British Open edition of SI Golf’s Fact or Fiction, where we have a series of statements for writers and editors to declare as “Fact” or “Fiction” along with a brief explanation. Responses may also (occasionally) be “Neutral” since there's a lot of gray area in golf.

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know on the SI Golf X account.

Xander Schauffele is the champion golfer of the year and should be PGA Tour Player of the Year if he wins another Olympic gold medal and the FedEx Cup. 

Bob Harig: FACT. And it might require less than that. Winning two majors in a season typically stands above all. But let’s be honest, PGA Tour players put about two seconds of thought into this when they vote, and the FedEx Cup has taken on more weight. Winning the Players for Scheffler is also a big deal. It will definitely be interesting.

Jeff Ritter: FACT. Those are a couple of pretty big items remaining for Schauffele to take down, but sure, Olympic gold and the Fed Ex I think would be enough to surpass Scheffler for the year-end hardware.

John Schwarb: FICTION. This makes for a fun debate but “PGA Tour” are the key words and Scheffler has a Players and a foursome of signature event titles. He locked this down before July 1 and his overall dominance wins out. Barely.

Royal Troon, which had four days of unpredictable weather and a mix of stars and relative unknowns in contention, delivered the most intriguing major of 2024. 

Bob Harig: FICTION. Xander took the drama out of the back nine with his excellent performance. It’s hard to be the riveting way he won the PGA—not to mention all the nonsense surrounding Scottie Scheffler’s arrest. And the final nine at Pinehurst with Bryson DeChambeau prevailing over Rory McIlroy was riveting.

Jeff Ritter: FACT. The weather on Saturday was wild and created drama while fracturing the leaderboard. It was fun to wake up this morning with the feeling that anything was possible. The U.S. Open ultimately had the most suspense late on Sunday, but this Open was fascinating and a blast.

John Schwarb: FICTION. The PGA was wild all the way through, from Schauffele opening with a major-record-tying 62 (remember that?) to Scheffler being arrested and still playing well (all things considered) to the Sunday shootout with Bryson playing pied piper all over Valhalla. But that’s no knock on this terrific Open. 

Americans swept the majors for the first time since 1982 and will keep the hot streak going with gold in Paris. 

Bob Harig: FICTION. I think it’s tough to stay this motivated after you’ve accomplished so much and with more to come. There’s a lot of worldwide players including McIlroy, Rahm, Fleetwood, Lowry, Aberg and Niemann who all could factor. The odds say someone else will win in Paris.

Jeff Ritter: FACT. It’s tough to bet against Scheffler, Schauffele or even Morikawa in Paris. Against a field that is diluted from the inclusion of so many countries, odds look good that one of them will bring home gold.

John Schwarb: FICTION. If I’m taking the rest of the world in this prop, I’ve got Rory, Rahm, Lowry, Aberg, Fleetwood and several other top guys who might see the Olympics as their last big trophy to chase in 2024. With all due respect to the FedEx Cup, of course.