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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Xander Schauffele has tried everything.

He arrived in Louisville with 12 top-10 finishes in majors but never a win, so with each passing disappointment, he'd look inward, wondering what he was missing. 

On Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club, he tried something new: He wanted to feel everything.

Schauffele wanted to hear every roar coming from the massive Louisville crowds ahead of him. He wanted to stop at every leaderboard, digest the numbers and understand where he stood. He wanted all that information piled on his shoulders because he felt like he was ready to carry it up the hill to 18.

"I wanted to address everything that I was feeling in the moment," he told reporters Sunday night.

IMAGES | Xander Schauffele wins PGA Championship at Valhalla

He addressed it and harnessed it, sinking a 6-foot putt for birdie on the 72nd hole of the 106th PGA Championship to finally break through.

"I kept saying it all week. I just need to stay in my lane," Schauffele said after the win. "Man, was it hard to stay in my lane today. But I tried all day to just keep focus on what I'm trying to do and keep every hole ahead of me."

Schauffele shot a course record 62 on Thursday and maintained a lead after each day. Through three rounds, his 17 birdies, one bogey and one double-bogey set the pace for a week of historically low scores on a course that was defenseless from days of rain.

And he kept the pedal down Sunday, birdieing four holes on the front nine to hold a two-shot lead with nine holes to play. He also shot a 62 in the opening round of the 2023 U.S. Open in Los Angeles but tied for 10th. The guy who couldn't close the deal had nine holes to change the narrative of his career.

"I believe in positive self-talk," Schauffele said. "I will tell myself. I'll speak to myself. I just kept doing it. When you believe something enough, it'll happen."

But after a bogey on No. 10, one of the easiest holes on the course, Schauffele lost the lead. Viktor Hovland was two groups ahead of him in a stretch of six birdies in nine holes to seize the lead. The guy who couldn't close the deal was staring at a familiar script.

But something different happened this time. Maybe it was the mentality shift. Maybe it was the swing changes he and his coach, Chris Como, have worked on for more than a year, getting Schauffele more on plane at the top of the swing and injecting him with more power than he's ever had. Whatever it was, this time, he didn't let go.

Birdie on 11. Birdie on 12. The best player to never win a major didn't want the label anymore and he took the lead right back.

"It starts to wear on you," he said of the constant doubt. "... I believed in what I can do, and this is just fruits of it."

After birdieing Nos. 16 and 18 to post -20, Bryson DeChambeau was on the driving range, hoping for a three-hole playoff. Schauffele slammed the door on that hope with the biggest pressure putt of his career.

"Not only (is he) just a great human being but an unbelievable golfer, and it shows this week," DeChambeau said Sunday night. "Super happy for him."

Schauffele spoke longingly of his parents Sunday night, both of whom are away from home and unable to be in Louisville this week. Schauffele's father, Stefan, a German man who friends call "The Ogre," answered his son's phone call right before he hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy. It wasn't a long conversation.

"He was crying on the phone," Schauffele said. "It made me pretty emotional. I told him I had to hang up because I had to walk down. I couldn't show up looking like the way I was."

Schauffele's father has been a guiding light for his whole life, coaching him as a junior golfer and imparting wisdom when he felt his son needed to hear it. Sitting on a 54-hole lead after three dominant days at Valhalla, the elder Schauffele sent his son a text message Saturday night. It was one of his favorite sayings, a subtle piece of German philosophy fit for the moment.

"A steady drip breaks a stone."

With tens of thousands of people watching under Louisville's fading light Sunday, the stone shattered.

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