It isn’t like Xander Schauffele to fall apart down the stretch of a golf tournament. But that’s exactly what happened earlier this month at the Olympics in Paris.
Schauffele, seeking his second straight gold medal after winning in Tokyo, was right in the mix that Sunday until the 12th hole, when he embarked on a four-hole stretch with two bogeys and one double.
The No. 2 player in the world wants to shake off those memories this week when the FedEx Cup playoffs begin at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
“Yeah, I take pride in finishing strong, and to do that was — I was pretty bummed out,” Schauffele told reporters Tuesday in Memphis, Tenn. “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.”
The winner in Paris was his rival and countryman, Scottie Scheffler, who stormed back in the final round to add a gold medal to his six PGA Tour wins this year.
Schauffele recalled being “butt-hurt” about how his round played out, then having that feeling dissolve as Scheffler won another medal for Team USA.
“It’s hard to explain, the swing of it,” Schauffele said. “Then out here this week playing with him these next two days and we’re all just trying to beat our heads in. It’s a funny feeling.
“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.”
As Schauffele said, the tour’s elite golfers are transitioning back to standard competition with the three-week playoffs that will see the field winnowed from 70 to 50 to 30. There’s no doubt Schauffele, No. 2 entering the week, will reach the Tour Championship, but the playoffs are sure to be a grind that will send golfers from Memphis to the thin air of Denver, then back to the Southern heat in Atlanta.
“My team is talking to me about managing things correctly, being smart about it,” Schaufele said, “and to me, I’m just — in my head, I’m sitting there thinking, if you’re trying to win this thing, trying to be the best player over the course of this year, you’re going to just have to do better and be better than everyone else.
“I’ve got a really good team around me making sure I’m eating the right things, doing the right things to stay in good shape physically and mentally, but when push comes to shove, you’re going to have to be a dog at some point.”
–Field Level Media