Just a few days after winning the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics, Xander Schauffele is back on the PGA Tour in Memphis, preparing to compete at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational this weekend.
His success in Tokyo was still on his mind during Tuesday’s media session.
“Being able to take the podium afterwards really made me understand and realize sort of how special it actually is being there on the podium, winning any medal obviously,” Schauffele said. “The flag’s being raised, playing your national anthem, it really was something spectacular and obviously nothing like it.”
Schauffele, 27, won the Olympic gold medal with a 18-under-par performance at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, besting 59 other participants.
Schauffele said he got to see his grandparents, who live in Japan, before departing, which was a highlight.
“It’s pretty hard to impress someone who’s almost 90 years old and has been on this planet for a long time,” Schauffele said. “They’ve seen a lot of things, and to see my grandpa and my grandma’s reaction when I pull out this gold medal, sort of it really was surprising, it shocked me. It was just so cool because they’ve never seen it before and it was so new and so fresh.”
Now Schauffele’s challenge is to concentrate on the rest of the PGA Tour season.
“I think the biggest thing for me is being able to sort of hone in and focus on the task at hand this week,” Schauffele said. “What was done last week is done, and we’re going to talk about it a little bit more, but besides that, I need to sort of get back on the time zone, really start to focus more, lock back in and try to play well this week.
“Fortunately I’m not coming to a new property. (It’s) one that I’ve played a few times and had minimal success on, but I think I’m obviously in decent form coming overseas. Looking forward to the week.”
–Field Level Media