INZAI: Xander Schauffele said Tuesday that winning at this week’s Zozo Championship in Japan would be the “cherry on top” of a breakthrough year that saw him win two majors.

Once known as golf’s nearly man, Schauffele triumphed at the PGA Championship in May before winning the British Open two months later at Royal Troon.

The 30-year-old American is competing this week at the US PGA Tour’s Zozo Championships in Japan, the country where his Taiwanese mother was brought up and where he still has extended family.

Schauffele has already tasted success in Japan, winning a pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympic gold in 2021, and said he was looking forward to playing in front of his relatives at the par-70 Narashino Country Club.“It would be a cherry on top. A lot of my family will be out and my grandparents will be out,” he said.

“To be able to win, I don’t get to see them very often. Delivering the gold medal to them was really special during that Covid year.“Another win in front of them and for them would be even more special,” he said.

Schauffele will face competition from a field that includes defending champion Collin Morikawa and Japan’s Olympic bronze-medallist Hideki Matsuyama.

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Schauffele helped the United States beat the Internationals at the Presidents Cup in Montreal last month.

He said 2024 had been “a dream come true” so far.

“Winning two majors in a season, you dream of that stuff,” he said.

“For me to be able to do it is very special. I will always remember 2024.”

Mixed weather is expected at the Zozo Championship, where Schauffele has competed several times previously.

He said the course was “very polarising when it comes to holes that you feel like you can birdie versus parring”.

“My plan is just to separate the two and treat them as separate tournaments,” he added.