Why Xander Schauffele’s Wife Was So Emotional After PGA Win: ‘She Knows How Much This Means to Me’ (Exclusive
The PGA champion tells PEOPLE his wife, Maya Schauffele, “reminds me of why I love playing golf” after his first major title
After Xander Schauffele won his first major professional golf championship on Sunday, May 19, his wife, Maya Schauffele, couldn’t help but become emotional.
Maya made headlines for her candid interview with The Athletic at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., where she told the outlet she was “blacking out” while watching her husband claim 2024 PGA Championship. “This means everything,” she said in the moment.
In an interview with PEOPLE, Xander, 30, explains why the victory made his wife so emotional. “My wife has the most inside track to my emotions on a day-to-day basis, so she just knows how much not winning has been wearing on me,” says Xander, whose championship came during his 29th major of his professional career.
Maya talks him “through a lot of the patient moments,” the PGA champ says, “and she reminds me of why I love playing golf.”
Xander adds, “My wife keeps me grounded, so I know she was emotional just because she knows how much this means to me and she’s been so supportive my entire career, and it’s really cool for me to share it with her.”
From Left: Uncle Gao-Ya Chen, brother Nico, Xander Schauffele and wife Maya on May 19, 2024.
The golfer’s brother, Nico Schauffele, and uncle, Gao-Ya Chen, were also on the course as Xander won his first major title. “My brother’s been cooking for me for the last year and a half-ish, so he was able to come out to the course Sunday with my wife. He knows how stubborn I can be at times,” the player shares.
Xander, who previously won the gold medal in the men’s individual stroke play competition at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, recalls often competing against his older brother when they were kids. “But now that we’re grown men, we’re still very close and I think it’s turned more into he just supports me and really just wants me to succeed, and so he knows how much this one meant to me as well,” he says.
“And I’ve been at it for quite some time now and he’s been watching me do it growing up and I think he’s just super happy for me,” Xander adds of his brother.