Xander Schauffele Makes His Liv Golf Stance Clear With Blunt Message for Greg Norman

Xander Schauffele has reached a new level of stardom after winning his first major at the PGA Championship on Sunday, and the American’s father has sent a blunt message to LIV Golf

Xander Schauffele’s father insists there is no chance the new PGA champion will defect to LIV Golf under the current circumstances, sending a blunt message to the breakaway circuit’s commissioner Greg Norman.

Schauffele carded the lowest 72-hole score in a major championship, finishing at 21-under-par to beat Bryson DeChambeau to the Wannamaker Trophy at Valhalla on Sunday. The moment ended the 30-year-old’s agonising wait for his first major win after several near misses over the years.

Sunday’s triumph could be the turning point in Schauffele’s career, putting to bed the pain of his previous major championship heartbreaks. The prestige of the Ryder Cup veteran becoming a major winner is a boost for the PGA Tour, too, with Schauffele reaching a new level of stardom.

The tour has suffered an exodus of players since LIV Golf formed two years ago, with multiple major winners making the leap to the Saudi Arabia-backed league. There is a school of thought that recent major winners have been more comfortable joining LIV because they have exemptions that guarantee them entry to the big four tournaments in the short term.

Schauffele’s win on Sunday guarantees him lifetime entry to the PGA Championship and five-year exemptions for The Masters, US Open and Open Championship, meaning he could theoretically profit from the riches on offer at LIV without compromising his major championship ambitions for the foreseeable future.

But Schauffele’s father and swing coach, Stefan, is adamant his son is further away from joining LIV than ever before. “The opposite would probably be closer to the truth,” he told Golf.com about his son’s chances of joining the breakaway tour in the wake of Sunday’s win in Kentucky.

“No chance. Xander is not chasing the money. Xander is about legacy. And in my opinion — just as his father — there was never a chance.