"He's very ho-hum"- Xander Schauffele's opinion about playing with Scottie Scheffler at the Olympics
Xander Schauffele is at Le Golf National in Paris, France, to participate in the Olympic golf competition that begins August 1. Schauffele will have the opportunity to play alongside three teammates, including World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
On Tuesday, July 30, Schauffele held a press conference at the venue in his capacity as champion three years ago in Tokyo. When asked by a reporter about the similarities between his game and Scheffler's, the two-time Major champion replied, "Not too different."
That was part of what Xander Schauffele said:
"I've heard Scottie [Scheffler] talk about how golf doesn't define him, and he just wants to be the same guy with wife, with his kid, with all his friends at home, and he pretty much is the same guy... He's very ho-hum and he's the same guy. Just flights every shot he hits."
He added:
"For me, it's not too different...I try to, like you said, be steady pretty much on and off the course to the best of my ability."
Xander Schauffele is coming off one of the best seasons of his professional career. He won two Major championships and finished in the top 10 in the other two, in addition to other significant performances on the PGA Tour.
Scottie Scheffler, meanwhile, is also coming off his best professional season. In 2024, Scheffler has won six tournaments on the PGA Tour, including a Major championship, the Players and four signature events.
A look at Xander Schauffele's Olympic history
Scottie Scheffler will be making his Olympic debut at Le Golf National, but that's not the case for Xander Schauffele. In fact, Schauffele had the best debut possible, winning the gold medal at Tokyo 2021.
Schauffele began his performance at Tokyo's Kasumigaseki Country Club with a first-round 68 that briefly left him outside the top 10. However, the American responded quickly to climb to the top of the leaderboard with a second round 63.
In the third round, Schauffele carded a 68, just enough to stay one shot ahead of Hideki Matsuyama, who was temporarily in second place. The fourth round was more of the same as his 67 was just enough to finish one stroke ahead of silver medalist Rory Sabatini.
Sabatini shot a fourth-round 61 to finish a surprising second despite being ranked 167th in the world at the time.
The bronze medal was another surprise as it was won by the then 181st ranked golfer in the world, CT Pan. He had to beat six other players in a three-hole playoff, including Collion Morikawa and Rory McIlroy.
Schauffele is one of four U.S. Olympic golf champions. The first were Charles Sands and Margaret Abbott, both in 1900. Nelly Korda also won a gold medal in 2021.
The United States has won six other medals in individual golf. In 1900, Pauline Whittier and Daria Pratt won the silver and bronze medals, respectively. In 1904, Chandler Egan won silver and Burt McKinnie and Francis Newton won bronze. Matt Kuchar also won a bronze medal in 2016.
A team golf competition was also held in 1904, with all medals won by American teams.