The Punter's De-Brief: Wild swings as Xander Schauffele and Haotong Li triumph

You'd be hard pushed to dream up two conclusions either side of the Atlantic as wild as we witnessed on Sunday.

First up, let's discuss the DP World Tour's BMW International Open at Eichenried in Munich.

For much of the week, China's Haotong Li had the field in his rear view mirror.

The pre-tournament 80.079/1 shot led by one after 18 holes to drop to 5.85/1 and he was 4.03/1 after maintaining that position at halfway. The market narrowly preferred the in-form Kiwi Ryan Fox at this stage. He was one back and 3.412/5.

But a Saturday 67 left the Chinaman three clear of the field and he was suddenly odds on at 1.84/5, with his nearest pursuer Thomas Pieters rated a 3.052/1 chance.

Li pulled two shots further clear of Pieter early in the final round and looked in a good spot. But two front nine bogeys reminded us that he was under pressure and, with Pieters regularly ticking off the birdies, Li couldn't afford to stumble.

But that's what happened, with Li scoring bogeys at 13 and 15. The pair were tied at the top and Pieters was edging the favouritism, his two recent wins being seen as an advantage over Li's four year victory drought.

They traded birdies at 16 before Li drained a second successive long birdie at 17 to go one clear. He also found himself just off the 18th in two: an up and down would convert the win.

Up and down is a good phrase for what was happening, what was occurring in the betting, and what was to come. In pure odds terms, the prices of Pieters and Li (insert your own joke) were bouncing either side of 2.01/1 with pretty much every shot hit.

The Li chip came up short, Pieters completed his own birdie, Li lipped out: play-off time, Pieters favoured by the market.

Now it was Li's heart-rate that was about to go up and down like his odds.

His tee shot narrowly avoided two trees and the pond, his approach dallied with the water on first bounce and then hurtled through the green, almost having enough impetus to find the water on the other side.

Pieters found the sand but then came up short with his third. Advantage Li.

Except he bladed his chip and was left with his head in his hands.

Whereupon he drained the birdie putt, rattling the ball into the pin and down the hole.

Pieters' birdie putt was limp and Li's celebrations divided the social media world: pure emotion for some, rude in its disregard for Pieters for others.

What was clear was just how much this meant to him. Punters who were on him will have experienced heart flutters, quite what state his own ticker was in is anyone's guess and he revealed afterwards that 10 months ago he was contemplating giving the game up, so impossible did making a cut seem, never mind winning.

Across the pond on the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy, available at 12.011/1 before the off, thrashed an opening 65 in the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands to tie the lead and become a 3.613/5 shot. He would be matched at a low of 2.021/1 but would drift like an untethered barge into T19th thereafter.

Steve's pre-tournament pick of Kevin Kisner at 200.0199/1 in Find Me a 100 Winner did him proud. He was second at halfway.

He shared that position with Patrick Cantlay, a 16.015/1 shot at the start of the week, 6.411/2 after 36 holes, and contesting favouritism with Xander Schauffele at around 2.26/5 and 2.915/8 when one shot back heading into the final lap.

Schauffele had made a sensational start to the week, his pair of 63s leaving him five clear of the field and trading at 1.981/1. A Saturday 67 was not exactly bad but it let the field catch him and he headed into the final round the other side of evens.

In the final round, the amateur Michael Thorbjornsen played the six holes either side of the turn in 6-under to prompt giddy thoughts for those who had backed him at 1000.0999/1 before the off or 350.0349/1 ahead of Sunday.

Alas, he immediately dropped two shots.

Cantlay could find nothing in the final round and Schauffele's biggest challenge came from the thrilling Sahith Theegala.

Backed at a high of 230.0229/1 before the off, but generally around 180.0179/1 he started the final round in third three shots back and 15.014/1.

He played the front nine in 2-under and then added a trio of back nine birdies to head down 18 with the lead, suddenly trading odds on.

Unfortunately, he endured agony on the final hole, finding sand with his drive and his backers might never be able to rid themselves of memories of the shot-by-shot detail: his second blow went four inches as he lurched home with a double bogey-6.

Schauffele completed the job with a birdie at the last when par would have done. A big sigh of relief after a hard weekend.

The win was a curious one in many ways for the Californian.

It was only his second PGA Tour victory in a full field event (after his first win at the Greenbrier Classic).

It was also a first official PGA Tour individual win since the 2019 Tournament of Champions.

Since then he finished the low-scorer for the week at the Tour Championship but lost out on starting strokes. He won the Olympic Gold, which is an unofficial PGA event, and then claimed last month's Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside Patrick Cantlay.

He's 28.027/1 on the Exchange to win the final major championship of the year, the Open at St Andrews next month.

*You can follow Steve on Twitter @SteveThePunter