Xander Schauffele Smokes Celebratory Cigar After Winning PGA Championship
When you win your first major championship, that calls for celebration. Pro golfer Xander Schauffele drank whisky and smoked a cigar after winning the PGA Championship on Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
“A member at Valhalla gave me a cigar,” says Schauffele. In the craziness of the day, he’s not even certain what it was. “It was nice though,” he says. He lit it up back at the rental property where he was staying, smoking while he sipped some Bourbon. The celebration also included other beverages, including Champagne and other drinks sipped straight from the massive, 27-pound Wanamaker Trophy, one of the biggest trophies in professional sports.
“There’s a few different kinds of beverages that were poured in it,” he says.
Schauffele is 30 years old, and has been tantalizingly close in other majors, finishing second twice, and seven times in the top 10. “It’s amazing, it’s validating, it’s hard to explain.”
Schauffele’s performance was one for the record books, finishing 21 under par (a major record) and shooting a 62 in the first round, a course record. (Shane Lowry would tie that record in the third round.) He also broke a winning drought, getting his first victory in one year, 10 months. He was atop the leaderboard for each round of the tournament.
“I think the feeling is different ‘cause I haven’t won in such a long time,” he says. “Waking up I’ve just been over the moon. That reaction you saw on the last hole that was absolute relief.”
Smoking cigars is nostalgic for Schauffele, who counts Olivas and Montecristos as his favorites. “I am more of a social cigar smoker.” He rarely smokes on the golf course, as golf is his business.
Schauffele got into cigars because of his father, Stefan, who is a frequent cigar smoker, and also Xander’s coach. (You can read about him in the May/June issue of Cigar Aficionado, in My Favorite Cigar.)
“Growing up I played golf with my dad and an old friend of ours named Mike who would smoke five, six cigars in a round. He would always have a cigar,” Schauffele says. A cigar, he says, “just makes me think of golfing with my dad and growing up.”
Stefan wasn’t at Valhalla this weekend, but after the final putt dropped, when victory was secure, Xander called him on the phone. “He started crying, I started crying,” he says. It was a beautiful moment.
“I’m sure when I see my dad,” says Schauffele, “I’ll smoke a cigar with him.”
