Xander Schauffele reckons he overcame a “terrifying” Troon experience to be crowned as Open champion at the Ayrshire venue last year and get the chance to drink tequila out of the Claret Jug. The American will be defending the title in the event’s 153rd edition at Royal Portrush in July after signing off with a best-of-the-day 65 at Royal Troon to win by two shots from Justin Rose and Billy Horschel. It was Schauffele’s second major win in 2024 after making his breakthrough in the game’s marquee events by also landing the PGA Championship at Valhalla after a thrilling last-day battle with Bryson DeChambeau. Speaking in a video call about The Open, Schauffele talked about what it had felt like standing on Troon’s 11th tee with the Glasgow to Ayr railway line on the right side of the fairway and a wall of gorse on the other side in the final round knowing he had a chance of winning golf’s oldest major. “Eleven is terrifying,” he said, smiling, of one of the toughest shots in golf. “You always have like a 15-minute wait on that tee with the train coming by, people sitting there staring at you. It's kind of raining. You're just looking at gorse everywhere.” In a week when Rory McIlroy was among some big names to miss the cut, Schauffele opened with rounds of 69-72 to sit joint-seventh at the halfway stage before jumping into a tie for second on the back of a third-round 69 then producing something special in the closing circuit to get the job done. “It was an interesting week,” he recalled. “Waves are a big conversation in Open Championships and I was in the better wave. But whoever sort of weathered that storm going into the weekend got a really calm morning on the Saturday then whoever played late on Saturday had a really tough go (as the weather turned nasty). It was kind of a tale of two tournaments almost, just like good Opens are. “The real sort of Open battle started for me on Saturday. That's kind of what I think back to when it comes to winning this tournament. If I didn't play the way I did on Saturday, I would have never had a chance to raise the Claret Jug at the end.” His dad, Stefan, has been looking after the coveted trophy at his home in Hawaii as opposed to it being on Schauffele’s mantlepiece in San Diego. “It’s in good hands,” insisted the Open champion, who was asked the customary question about what had been consumed in it. “I hate to say it, but I’ve had wine, of course, and then I’ve had tequila out of it as well,” he reported. Schauffele’s preparation for Portrush, where he finished just outside the top 40 behind Shane Lowry in 2019, will be in the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, where he won the Rolex Series event in 2022. “I think playing in the Scottish Open is a must for someone like me,” said the world No 3. “Just getting enough good nights of sleep, getting in the time zone and learning what it's like to actually play in wind again.”