![The X Factor](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/5166/414269/5e57a595c3cec/The-X-Factor.jpg)
If only his junior football coach had played him as a striker, golf may never have been gifted with the excitement machine that is Xander Schauffele. The 5-foot-10, 79-kilogram American was perhaps better built for the world game than the game he ended up choosing.
Schauffele – the son of a German-French father and a Chinese- Japanese mother – was a prodigious football talent. Aged six, he could juggle with both feet. He was a tremendous competitor. And the sport was in his blood, with both his great grandfathers playing professional football in their home countries of Austria and Germany. But in Scripps Ranch – a city suburb of San Diego, California – Schauffele was toiling as a sweeper for his local junior team. He made his desires to play attacking football clear to his coach, who promised as much to Schauffele for the next season. But when the manager didn’t deliver, a 12-year-old Schauffele packed up and walked away. Schauffele, now 26, never played organised football again.
“I’m not kidding you,” his father, Stefan, told a San Diego newspaper last year. “The next day, this is exactly what I said: ‘Let’s get you on the PGA Tour. Let’s go’.”
Raising a champion
There was one problem with Schauffele’s aspirations to make it to the PGA Tour – golf wasn’t considered ‘cool’ in southern California. Not even after Tiger Woods – a native to that part of California – had overhauled the sport’s image globally. Schauffele did not even tell friends and peers that he played golf.
“I think, as an individual growing up, golf wasn’t always the coolest thing to play,” said Schauffele at the recent Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. “In high school, in college, as a semi-pro or young man, I didn’t tell anyone I really played golf when I was younger.
Esta historia es de la edición April 2020 de Golf Monthly.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición April 2020 de Golf Monthly.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
![Sublime Scheffler unbeatable at Augusta National](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5166/1693511/8UVzsDWLt1715261218303/SUBLIME-SCHEFFLER-UNBEATABLE-AT-AUGUSTA-NATIONAL.jpg)
Sublime Scheffler unbeatable at Augusta National
It’s hard to put into words how special this is. It was a long week, a grind of a week.
![Skechers Go Golf Blade GF Slip-ins £160](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5166/1693511/GeUN3vM2v1715260971538/SKECHERS-GO-GOLF-BLADE-GF-SLIPINS-160.jpg)
Skechers Go Golf Blade GF Slip-ins £160
Skechers has been busy developing some of the best technologies for out-and-out comfort in golf shoes for a number of years now.
![The North](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5166/1693511/hqBh7fvf41715260699206/THE-NORTH.jpg)
The North
From the fine Open Championship links of the west to the grand golf hotels in the east and much more, northern England has it all
![Scotland](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5166/1693511/xC_Yr1xOv1715260540608/SCOTLAND.jpg)
Scotland
Home to around 575 clubs, the country is packed with premium links and an inland topography of spectacular extremes
![The South East](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5166/1693511/03a9GvPL51715260316051/THE-SOUTH-EAST.jpg)
The South East
From the Garden of England in Kent down to the Isle of Wight and up through
![BEST GOLF SHOES](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5166/1693511/p09-lV7nc1715259999397/BEST-GOLF-SHOES.jpg)
BEST GOLF SHOES
There have never been more options when it comes to picking the right golf shoe for your game.
![Nick Taylor](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5166/1693511/Se0kHocp51715259750521/NICK-TAYLOR.jpg)
Nick Taylor
The drills and tips the Canadian uses to keep his game sharp could improve your consistency through the bag too
![MASTER THE 50-YARD PITCH](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5166/1693511/Zw6U0itV91715259250074/MASTER-THE-50YARD-PITCH.jpg)
MASTER THE 50-YARD PITCH
Rethinking and simplifying your action could reap big dividends
![Keswick Golf Club](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5166/1693511/UhQz9gf4G1715259110149/KESWICK-GOLF-CLUB.jpg)
Keswick Golf Club
Jeremy Ellwood returns to this Cumbrian course with glorious backdrops just outside the north Lakes town for the first time since its on-site accommodation opened
![Are the comparisons between Scottie Scheffler and Tiger Woods justified?](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5166/1693511/Wqsby3YwO1715258993359/ARE-THE-COMPARISONS-BETWEEN-SCOTTIE-SCHEFFLER-AND-TIGER-WOODS-JUSTIFIED.jpg)
Are the comparisons between Scottie Scheffler and Tiger Woods justified?
With four wins and a runner-up spot in five consecutive starts plus a huge lead in the world rankings, some are starting to talk about the 2024 Masters Champion in almost the same breath as Woods