KAWAGOE, Japan — The dreams of the father were fulfilled in the land of the mother’s family. All Xander Schauffele had to do was win a gold medal to make the story feel like a Hollywood script.
Schauffele, 27, has finished in the top 10 of all four majors – six times in the top five – without a victory. On Sunday, he became the men’s Olympic champion with a final-round 4-under-par 67, nearly four decades after an accident dashed the athletic hopes of his father – also Schauffle’s lifelong swing coach.
Stefan Schauffele was a French-German decathlete in Germany who dreamed of competing in the Games. At age 20, a drunk driver hit him and, in one fell swoop, he lost the vision in his left eye and those Olympic aspirations.
Ping-Yi Chen was born in Taiwan and raised in Japan since age 4. She attended college in San Diego, where she met the elder Schauffele and where Xander Schauffele was born.
“I maybe put more pressure on myself, wanting to win this more than anything else for quite some time,” Schauffele said. “My dad aspired to have one of these at some point in his life. He dedicated a big chunk of his life to obtain a medal. That was taken away from him. My ties here … there’s just all these things that motivate me to do better, to be better. It’s more than just golf for me.”
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Sometimes a storm brews inside him, Schauffele said, opposite the calm he normally displays. Tranquility became necessary on Hole 14 when his drive, so consistent over four days until the final holes, flew out of bounds to the right. Given a club-length of relief, he still tangled with a shrub on his downswing, yet struck the ball well enough to ultimately bogey. After the round, he said he completely missed the gap he was aiming for on that second shot, but the ball somehow made it through the trees.
“Here’s the thing,” Schauffele stated. “When you’re trying to win a golf tournament, you need things to go your way.”
Unbeknownst to him, eventual silver-medalist Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia) had caught him at 17-under, and he only realized it while glancing at a video board near the 16th tee.
“That was a bit of a wake-up call,” Schauffele said. “Thank goodness there was a board there.”
At 17, Schauffele found himself in more trouble, this time when a drive landed in a sand trap. But a cheeky approach set up a six-foot birdie putt, and he sank it to take the lead. A par save on 18, after another drive missed the fairway but bailed out by a dynamite approach shot, sealed a one-stroke victory over Sabbatini, who fired a tournament-low (and Olympic record) 61 on Sunday.
CT Pan of Chinese Tapei bested Collin Morikawa on the fourth hole of a seven-player playoff for bronze, depriving the U.S. of sending two of its four golfers to the podium.
Schauffele stormed to the lead Friday afternoon with a furious finish to sit 8-under after Round 2. And he never looked back. He was the most consistent golfer for four days, entering Sunday with a 68, 63 and 68 on his scorecard.
The fifth-ranked golfer in the world hadn’t won a tournament since January 2019. He refused to be satisfied by high finishes. The losing ate at him.
“I just play to be competitive and I want to beat everyone,” he said.
Three birdies in the first five holes — two straight to start his final round — paved the way for him to play mostly par golf throughout the afternoon.
“It was a roller-coaster day for me, especially on that back nine coming in,” Schauffele said. “Just happy that I could fall back on my game coming through.”
Crows cawed and cicadas sizzled as the sun scorched Kasumigaseki Country Club, about 75 minutes northwest of Tokyo. A large contingent of volunteers, media and officials trailed the final group, as Japan native Hideki Matsuyama played alongside Schauffele and Paul Casey (Great Britain) to provide the feel of a true final.
Being at the top of a leaderboard for multiple days presented an unusual challenge for Schauffele. He leaned on one advantage he held over his primary competitors, other than Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion: Japan.
“You open a suitcase, and you can always tell where it came from,” said Schauffele, well-traveled in five years on the PGA Tour.
He remembered his grandparents visiting San Diego when he was a child.
“It always smelled like Japan. I don’t know how to describe it,” he said. “Coming here, I really appreciate the culture and how kind and respectful everyone is. So there was a level of comfort for me.”
Sabbatini later admitted he had one of the worst warm-ups in his career Sunday. The 10-under, which included two bogeys, surprised him more than anybody else.
“I thought I was so far out, I didn’t have any expectations,” he said.
Sabbatini’s wife is Slovakian, and her cousin was vice president of the Slovakian Golf Federation (he is now the president). Born in South Africa but holding multiple passports, the 45-year-old became a Slovakian citizen in 2019. Golf is not popular in his wife’s native country, Sabbatini said.
“We looked at it as a great way to use it as a springboard to create more interest in the game of golf in Slovakia,” he said, adding that he felt immense pride in seeing the Slovakian flag raised.
Pan shot a 74 in Round 1, tied for the third-worst score of the day.
“I remember I texted one of my good friends, saying, ‘The struggle is real,’” Pan said. “Overall, that was a very happy ending.”
Sabbatini (ranked No. 204 in the world) and Pan (208th) played in the same group Sunday, with both of their wives serving as their caddies during the tournament. At a Games deprived of celebratory hugs with family, all three medal-winners enjoyed wrapping their arms around loved ones.
“I can’t really say what we said to each other, just from a standpoint of swearing. But it was a nice embrace,” Schauffele said. “I did think of him as soon as I made the putt. I knew he was going to be there, crying. Luckily, he had shades on. This whole experience has been really special. Having him here is even better.”
The tears kept flowing for Stefan Schauffele throughout the evening. He leaned against a tree off the right side of the 18th green and looked on as his son received the gold medal. He watched as Xander turned to face the American flag flying in a dusk sky as the “The Star-Spangled Banner” played.
Xander Schauffele noted that he is the only natural-born citizen in his family, then discussed pride in representing one’s country at the Olympics.
He stopped himself.
“I think me being very international has taught me a lot about different cultures,” the former San Diego State Aztec began. “It’s made me very understanding of different cultures. I think that if everyone sort of had the ability to travel more and experience more cultures, they’d be more willing to get along, potentially.”
As Schauffele took his seat at a different podium, this time to meet with the media following the medal ceremony, his father took a seat directly in front of him, two rows back. The son lifted the medal and smiled, as if to say it was theirs – no words necessary.
“As a mentor, you sort of feed your personal examples to give to someone,” he said. “His were all Olympic-related. He put all of his eggs in one basket.”
Together, they hatched a gold medal.
“For this to come full-circle at a pretty young age,” Xander Schauffele said, “I just feel very fortunate and really happy to share this with him.”
Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Xander Schauffele wins gold medal for men’s golf at Tokyo Olympics