Rick Gehman said Xander Schauffele is the prototype fit for Royal Portrush and, by extension, a DFS core play for the Open. Gehman stressed that Portrush demands a "very complete driver" who can shape shots in every direction, negotiate narrow landing zones guarded by pot bunkers and internal OB, and still keep above-average pop off the tee. Using his new shot-shape radar tool, Gehman highlighted that Schauffele is top-15 in driving distance yet maintains strong accuracy while hitting at least 10 percent of his drives in six of the nine possible windows (low, mid, high draws and fades). That rare versatility should let him pick the right line on dog-legs like the risk-reward 11th and adjust to ever-changing coastal winds. Gehman compared this to Shane Lowry’s 2019 winning formula of staying in play and piling up greens-in-regulation, concluding that Schauffele’s skill set maps almost perfectly to this volatile links test.