Paris (AFP) – Scottie Scheffler said watching Simone Biles and her USA teammates win gymnastics gold earlier this week was inspiring ahead of his Olympics debut. The world number one carded a four-under-par 67 on Thursday in the opening round of the men’s golf event to sit four strokes behind clubhouse leader Hideki Matsuyama.
On Tuesday, he was at Bercy Arena in Paris to see Biles win her fifth Olympic title, alongside Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Jade Carey. Biles, who withdrew from several finals at the Tokyo Games due to struggles with the debilitating condition that gymnasts call “twisties,” will bid to regain her all-around title later Thursday from American teammate Lee.
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“All the gymnasts did,” Scheffler said when asked if he was inspired by Biles. “Simone, being as talented as she is. I was amazed at their poise. They compete for years and years and years. For some of them, that may be the only time they are on the Olympics team.”
“For one tournament to have such an emphasis every four years is really challenging. As somebody who, if I had a bad week this week, I could take a week off and I would still have another great chance to prove it to myself that I can do it under the biggest lights.”
Scheffler, who has won six PGA Tour titles this season including the Masters, looked in ominous form at Le Golf National as he cruised through a bogey-free round despite missing several makeable putts. He is known as one of the coolest customers in golf, but said the pressure after hitting a bad shot pales in comparison to making a mistake in gymnastics.
– ‘Lee faceplanted the mat’ –
Scheffler said Lee recovered from a frightening error in practice before helping Team USA deliver gold. “She faceplanted on the mat coming off of the top bar and the whole gym went silent,” he said. “We were like, ‘Oh my gosh, is she okay and how is she going to do this?’ I’m thinking to myself, if you faceplant, first of all, it’s really going to hurt and it’s going to throw you off.”
“Five minutes later, she’s got to go up there and do her routine in front of the entire world… It’s like a shank, but except someone simultaneously punches you in the face at the same time. I don’t know how to equate it to golf.”
“We were sitting on the other side of the gym and it was so loud. I was like, ‘Is she hurt?’ And five minutes later I’m like, ‘I guess she’s going’. Flawless. It was awesome.”
Scheffler reeled off four wins in five events earlier this season, drawing comparisons with Tiger Woods at his peak. But the 28-year-old insisted he has some way to go to match the other top American athletes. “(Swimmer) Katie Ledecky, to compare golf to her, I think is fairly challenging,” he added. “I think she has like the 20 best times in the 1500m. That would be like me shooting the lowest 20 scores on tour… like shooting 57, 20 times. I’m going to have to practise harder.”
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