Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler look at Xander Schauffele’s predictions

There’s fierce competition between Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy (Image: Getty)

Xander Schauffele’s caddy has no doubt that he will complete a career slam next year. For a long time, he was the greatest man in sport. Above him is Scottie Scheffler, who looks to be a dominant force in 2024 but has just two Masters wins to his name when it comes to the Big Four, and Schauffele’s longtime caddie Austin Keiser is backing his best friend to continue his winning streak and complete the career slam in 12 months’ time. Max Homa’s comments to Xander Schaufel after winning the British Open speak volumes

“After he won the PGA, I looked at him and said, ‘Let’s go for a Grand Slam in the next three tournaments,'” Kaiser said. “Let’s do it. Why not? He’s right there. He played well at Augusta. He did well in the U.S. Open. I can see him achieving this. No problem.”

Scheffler finished second at both Valhalla and the U.S. Open, with a T7 finish at Royal Troon being his best Open finish. McIlroy is one of two active players, along with Jordan Spieth, who are 75% away from winning all of his tournaments.

Before his decade-long drought, the Northern Irishman won the U.S. Open in 2011, the PGA Championship in 2012 and 2014 and the British Open in 2014. He came close to ending that wait several times, and two years ago he was three shots behind runner-up Scheffler at Augusta to complete a grand slam.

Austin Kaiser has full confidence in Schauffele to win the Masters and US Open in 2025 (Image: Getty)

Not only does the younger Schauffel believe he is in pole position to achieve this goal, but so does his father Stefan – whether next year or beyond. While he acknowledged his own bias, he said the numbers don’t lie.

Following his son’s feat with Scotland, the elder Schauffele said: “It’s up to you to look at the stats and decide who has the greatest chance of being the next career Grand Slam, because I think he has the greatest chance of the game.” Yes, I am being subjective, but I think if you look at it objectively you will come to the same conclusion.