Wanted dead or alive? It’s not just the name of a Bon Jovi song.
It’s actually a headline from a framed poster in player hospitality at the U.S. Open last week at Los Angeles Country Club, a public announcement not by a law enforcement agency – although they sometimes act like one – but rather by the USGA, one of golf’s governing bodies, that it desires to question or arrest Xander Schauffele for making off with multiple bottles of wine. The reward (in best Dr. Evil voice): $1 million.
The poster made the rounds on social media when it caught the attention of viewers in the background of a video posted by the USGA. It showed U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark celebrating his triumph by drinking an undisclosed alcoholic beverage out of the winner’s trophy, but others were more focused on the upper-right-hand corner of the screen and why there was a bounty on the head of Schauffele, the No. 6-ranked player in the world and this week’s defending champion at the Travelers Championship.
Time to celebrate!
#USOpen pic.twitter.com/fsLDYjwUZV
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 19, 2023
Here’s the back story: Four shelves stocked from side-to-side with bottles of red and white from the likes of Faust (a personal favorite), A. Rafanelli, Groth, Roth and Chalk Hill were available for players to enjoy. It’s a pretty sweet perk, one of many bestowed upon the field of 156.
A sign posted above the wine displays says: “Wine for players courtesy of USGA. Spieth/Schauffele rule in effect (One bottle only).”
You might think players would know better than to start double-fisting free bottles of wine at a major but then you’d be wrong. Apparently, at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, Xander Schauffele was caught red-handed (see photo below with hand-in-the-cookie-jar expression on his face).
Xander Schauffele at the 2022 U.S. Open.
Props to the USGA for having some fun and showing a sense of humor.
It also:
- messed with Joel Dahmen’s parking spot, downgrading him from valet service in Lot A to taking a shuttle in Lot F, a nod to his car going missing from valet last year after Friday’s round
- trolled Canadian pro Adam Hadwin by placing a safety vest and hard hat in his locker a day after he got crushed by an overzealous security man at the RBC Canadian Open
- continued a long-running gag of locker room nameplates with the best of them reportedly aimed at Adam Scott.
The U.S. Open can be such a pressure-cooker that sometimes a little light-hearted locker room prank is just the release valve needed to keep a player loose. Bravo to the USGA.
Has anyone seen Schauffele? That reward is legit.