'Schauffele passes ultimate examination in classic Open'

While Xander Schauffele celebrates completing the first American shutout of the four men's majors in 42 years, it is worth reflecting on the maddening magnificence of UK links golf at its highest level.

It is, undoubtedly, the sport in its purest and best form.

Schauffele won a classic Open at Royal Troon - a course that provided the ultimate test while the elements, for sustained periods, threw their worst at the world's finest golfers.

Ultimately the championship was won by the right man, as the 30-year-old Olympic champion collected his second major of 2024. For all Scottie Scheffler's recent success, Schauffele richly deserves the moniker 'champion golfer of the year'.

This Open had everything - unlikely challengers, big-name casualties and a stunning performance to snatch the Claret Jug.

Those four days on the Ayrshire coast amounted almost to a different sport compared with the sultry heat and generous course set-up that prevailed at Valhalla in May, when Schauffele won the US PGA to land his first major title.

Troon provided the ultimate examination. The unfamiliar winds of the first two days undid the maxim that scores are made on the front nine and retained, if you are good enough, on the ultra-challenging inward half.

The traditional Troon test was turned on its head. These unexpected conditions bamboozled the likes of Rory McIlroy, and the man who dramatically beat him to last month's US Open - Bryson DeChambeau.

Much-vaunted debutant Ludwig Aberg also took an early bath as shot-making limitations of many top stars were ruthlessly exposed.

Formulaic demands of the PGA Tour, where bomb and gouge to receptive greens is such a profitable pursuit, were not the qualities required last week.

Deep bunkers with steep faces terrorised this Open field. Shots needed shaping to use winds as cushions to land balls in correct spots.

Chips from tight links turf required absolute precision, often putters were the correct option. Keeping the ball low, imaginatively using this glorious golfing terrain was the order of the day.

Maintaining mental fortitude as cold rain drove sideways late on the Saturday afternoon was crucial to ensuring title hopes were not blown away. These are the demands of golf in its purest form.

Justin Rose and Billy Horschel - the 54-hole leader - played as if their lives depended on it - celebrating par putts that kept them prominent on the distinctive yellow leaderboards overlooking the home green.

Shane Lowry raged at the tough course set-up. The fact drivers were needed to reach the green on the long par-three 17th was irksome to the Irishman.

He did little wrong in the Saturday 77 that ultimately cost him his tilt at a second Open title. And he had a point, to an extent.

But with modern ball and club technology available to today's superstars, it was refreshing to see them tested to the extreme. And it was his cold putter on that frigid late Saturday afternoon that did for him.

This was golf being played as the game's Scottish founding fathers experienced it back in the 19th Century, when the first Opens were played down the road at Prestwick.

Schauffele was calmness personified throughout these four ultra-demanding days. He carded only six bogeys, two of them in the worst of the third-round conditions.

Stay out of the bunkers was a key maxim. He visited only three, and successfully got up and down on two of those occasions.

Do not fall foul of the tiny Postage Stamp eighth was another. He birdied it three times, and will feel he should have had a full set having given himself a great look on his final visit to that magical par-three.

With the title on the line he hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation. He was the only man to birdie the treacherous 11th, where his six-iron approach from the left rough to inside three feet was arguably the shot of the tournament.

His delicate chip to the par-five 16th was a shot of sheer class, having seen his plucky pursuer Rose smash a 300-yard driver off the deck on to the green.

The Englishman was one poor pitch - at the 12th - from pushing Schauffele all the way to the end. His five on that hole was the only bogey between them in a fabulous display of links golf.

Easing away with his four back-nine birdies, the champion demonstrated supreme ball-striking and clinical putting. That is champion golf, worthy of the greatest event on the calendar.

"That walk up 18 truly is the coolest with the yellow leaderboards and the fans and the standing ovation," Schauffele reflected as he tightly clutched the precious Claret Jug.

"It really is one of the coolest feelings I've ever had in my life."

Schauffele is the only player to have finished top-10 in all four majors. At the PGA he set a new scoring record by finishing 21 under par, but his nine-under tally in Scotland was even more impressive.

He is the 11th successive first-time winner of the Open - a run started when Phil Mickelson made a similar bolt from the pack in 2013.

Such a record shows the championship is truly 'open' and rewards the best player in that given week. That is competitive golf in a nutshell.

Schauffele was already one of the two best players in the world, and the time-honoured demands of links golf - in its most hostile form - ensured that only someone of such elevated status could prevail.

The 152nd Open should be remembered as a classic. Roll on Royal Portrush in 12 months' time.