Post by Admin on Aug 2, 2021 4:48:50 GMT
Once it was announced that golf at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would be a no-cut, small-field event, it should have been apparent that Xander Schauffele would thrive. The American won gold on Sunday with a closing 68 to finish 18 under at Kasumigaseki Country Club, clipping Rory Sabbatini by one stroke on a wild Sunday of golf outside of Tokyo.
Sabbatini went out a few groups ahead of Schauffele and fired a shocking 10-under 61 to put some electricity into what looked like a Schauffele rout early in the day. The jolt of Sabbatini – competing under the Slovakian flag with his wife on the bag (more on that below) – running up the board combined with the difficulty of closing out any golf tournament seemed to affect Schauffele late in the day.
After a flawless first nine, Schauffele started to skid a bit going into the ending. A tee shot that nearly went out of bounds and ended with him thinning an iron out of the forest because his club was wrapped around a vine resulted in a bogey 6 on the par-5 14th hole. It could have been much worse. He got that stroke back on No. 17 with a clutch up and down from a greenside bunker for birdie and then hit the shot of his life on the 18th. From 98 yards to 3 feet for a gold medal when he absolutely had to have it to avoid a playoff with Sabbatini.
"Probably more [pressure in this event than other ones] in all honesty," Schauffele told Golf Channel after winning for the first time in over two years. "I really wanted to win for my dad. I'm sure he's crying somewhere right now. I kind of wanted this one more than any other one."
Schauffele's father, Stefan, was once an Olympic hopeful for Germany in the decathlon before being hit by a drunk driver and losing vision in one of his eyes. He now coaches his son, who is also an Olympic champion.
The win is the biggest of Schauffele's still-growing resume. Four of his five wins as a professional have come in similar small-field, no-cut tournaments, including the Tour Championship, WGC-HSBC Champions and Tournament of Champions. This one, though, will linger longer than the rest of them and could be rocket fuel to what has been an incredibly successful career to date, despite no major championship wins.
That's for later, though. For now, Schauffele gets to enjoy winning the United States a gold medal in the second event since golf was reinstated as an Olympic sport back in 2016 at the Rio Games (Matt Kuchar took bronze for the U.S. in 2016). Schauffele was one of the more vocal players this week about how monumental bringing a medal back to his home country would be, and I thought of what he said on Tuesday after he won on Sunday.
"I think obviously winning a gold medal and representing our country is a big deal or else we wouldn't be sitting here talking to you and answering these questions," said Schauffele.
"If you look at other ... athletes, track and field, swimming, judo, any other extreme athlete, this is the pinnacle. This is the most honorable thing and the biggest thing you can do for your country. For golf it's so fresh and so new and fortunately [teammate] Collin [Morikawa] and I are young, and so when we talk to you, it is exciting, it is very cool. It is something we want to do, and winning a gold medal and representing the USA correctly. And, like I said, we wouldn't be here if we didn't feel that way and feel strongly about it."
Schauffele has his gold medal, and though it came in a similarly-styled tournament to most of the others he's won, he did it differently than before. This is the first time he's led from out in front and closed a 54-hole lead. That's meaningful in any event, even more so in an Olympics with a crushing weight bearing down on you, improbably in the form of a 61 from a man who just gained citizenship to the country he was representing a few years ago.
Sabbatini went out a few groups ahead of Schauffele and fired a shocking 10-under 61 to put some electricity into what looked like a Schauffele rout early in the day. The jolt of Sabbatini – competing under the Slovakian flag with his wife on the bag (more on that below) – running up the board combined with the difficulty of closing out any golf tournament seemed to affect Schauffele late in the day.
After a flawless first nine, Schauffele started to skid a bit going into the ending. A tee shot that nearly went out of bounds and ended with him thinning an iron out of the forest because his club was wrapped around a vine resulted in a bogey 6 on the par-5 14th hole. It could have been much worse. He got that stroke back on No. 17 with a clutch up and down from a greenside bunker for birdie and then hit the shot of his life on the 18th. From 98 yards to 3 feet for a gold medal when he absolutely had to have it to avoid a playoff with Sabbatini.
"Probably more [pressure in this event than other ones] in all honesty," Schauffele told Golf Channel after winning for the first time in over two years. "I really wanted to win for my dad. I'm sure he's crying somewhere right now. I kind of wanted this one more than any other one."
Schauffele's father, Stefan, was once an Olympic hopeful for Germany in the decathlon before being hit by a drunk driver and losing vision in one of his eyes. He now coaches his son, who is also an Olympic champion.
The win is the biggest of Schauffele's still-growing resume. Four of his five wins as a professional have come in similar small-field, no-cut tournaments, including the Tour Championship, WGC-HSBC Champions and Tournament of Champions. This one, though, will linger longer than the rest of them and could be rocket fuel to what has been an incredibly successful career to date, despite no major championship wins.
That's for later, though. For now, Schauffele gets to enjoy winning the United States a gold medal in the second event since golf was reinstated as an Olympic sport back in 2016 at the Rio Games (Matt Kuchar took bronze for the U.S. in 2016). Schauffele was one of the more vocal players this week about how monumental bringing a medal back to his home country would be, and I thought of what he said on Tuesday after he won on Sunday.
"I think obviously winning a gold medal and representing our country is a big deal or else we wouldn't be sitting here talking to you and answering these questions," said Schauffele.
"If you look at other ... athletes, track and field, swimming, judo, any other extreme athlete, this is the pinnacle. This is the most honorable thing and the biggest thing you can do for your country. For golf it's so fresh and so new and fortunately [teammate] Collin [Morikawa] and I are young, and so when we talk to you, it is exciting, it is very cool. It is something we want to do, and winning a gold medal and representing the USA correctly. And, like I said, we wouldn't be here if we didn't feel that way and feel strongly about it."
Schauffele has his gold medal, and though it came in a similarly-styled tournament to most of the others he's won, he did it differently than before. This is the first time he's led from out in front and closed a 54-hole lead. That's meaningful in any event, even more so in an Olympics with a crushing weight bearing down on you, improbably in the form of a 61 from a man who just gained citizenship to the country he was representing a few years ago.