Xander Schauffele admits to a stunning emotional turn after his Olympic collapse – Australian Golf Digest

by Admin
August 13, 2024

[PHOTO: Kevin C. Cox]

Scottie Scheffler wasn’t the only one breaking down in tears during the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner after the Olympic Golf Competition in Paris a little more than a week ago. The guy who previously won the gold medal was having his own moment.

Xander Schauffele endured a difficult final round at Le Golf National, shooting a four-over 75 that cost him a medal. But amid his disappointment, Schauffele was happy for Scheffler, who closed with an impressive 62 to surge to victory, and he also felt a swell of patriotic pride during the medal ceremony.

“It’s weird; I’m not going to lie. It’s the weirdest feeling,” Schauffele, who won Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021, said at TPC Southwind, where the FedEx Cup Playoffs begin on Thursday. “I was watching from the sort of family section, the podium, and when Scottie was up there and our flag was raised and he started crying up there, I was butt-hurt about my own round, and then I was sitting there like, Yeah, this is pretty cool.

“…I can be rational most times, but I felt so emotional in that state to where I was butt-hurt about how I played and then sorta proud and happy that Scottie won it. It’s hard to explain, the swing of it. I think it’s just being American. You see your flag being raised and your national anthem played, and you’re sitting there sort of humming it in your head, and you get that sort of feeling that we don’t really get too often anymore.”

Of course, the emotions are sure to swing back quickly when the FedEx St Jude Championship begins. Scheffler and Schauffele – first and second, respectively, in the points standings – are paired together for the first two rounds.

“Playing with him these next two days and we’re all just trying to beat our heads in. It’s a funny feeling,” said Schauffele, who has made the playoffs each of the past eight years dating to his rookie season in 2017.

Winner of two majors this year, the PGA Championship at Valhalla and the Open Championship at Royal Troon, Schauffele, ranked No.2 in the world, was in great position heading into the final round at the Olympics, only to shoot the only round over par among the top 10 on the leaderboard. He chalked it up to a bit of fatigue and falling into some bad habits that he had broken free from in winning the first two majors of his career.

When a questioner asked him about his finish in Paris, trying to say that it wasn’t necessarily a bad final round, Schauffele cut him off. “It was bad.”

“I’m stubborn. My team would be the first people to tell you that,” Schauffele, 30, said. ”They ask me how I’m doing, I’m fine. I’m always fine. But I was probably more tired than I thought I was. I take pride in finishing strong, and to do that was… I was pretty bummed out.

“I went from thinking I could have a good look at gold to maybe silver, then to bronze, and then to, Wow, I’m just spectating now. That’s sort of what happened the last seven, eight holes of that tournament. So that was a bit of a bummer, especially with how the fans were out there. It must have been such a cool feeling to be in the hunt with important shots coming down that stretch, 15 to 18.”

Instead, he had to settle for the cool feeling that comes with hearing his national anthem. During what has been a career year for the Californian, that was a better consolation prize than most.