Paris (AFP) – Xander Schauffele admitted on Tuesday that winning Olympic gold is “very different” to lifting golf major titles as he prepares for the start of his title defence at the Paris Games. The American’s Olympic victory in Tokyo three years ago was the biggest win of his career at the time as he struggled to shrug off his nearly-man tag at the majors. But he finally won one of the sport’s four biggest events at this year’s PGA Championship and backed it up with a dramatic triumph at the British Open earlier this month.
Schauffele will be among the favourites as he bids to become the first man to win two men’s golf golds. He believes success in the Games will become more prestigious in the eyes of players the longer golf is part of the Olympic schedule, having only been reintroduced after a 112-year absence in 2016. “The majors are sort of what I grew up watching. They are two very different things to me,” he told reporters at Le Golf National ahead of Thursday’s opening round. “I think the gold medal, it’s been marinating nicely. Maybe in 30, 40 years, it’s something that’s really going to be special as it gets more traction and it kind of gets back into the eyes or into the normalcy of being in the Olympics. It’s still so young.”
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Schauffele had 12 previous top-10 finishes at major tournaments before finally breaking his duck in the PGA at Valhalla. There, he birdied the final hole to edge out Bryson DeChambeau by a single stroke, before a majestic back nine at Royal Troon delivered the Claret Jug less than two weeks ago. He admitted it had taken him a while to recover from his Open celebrations. “I don’t really drink much alcohol. So three days in a row drinking was quite a feat for myself, and the recovery that was also slow,” he said. “For me, (I track) my sleep every day. Took a while for me to get my scores back to where they normally are, put it that way.”
**- Tokyo ‘relief’ -** Schauffele’s USA teammate and world number one Scottie Scheffler said Monday that his compatriot is so level-headed he has the same demeanour after winning a major as he does after losing a tournament on the 72nd hole. Schauffele held off a charging Rory Sabbatini to win gold in the Covid-delayed 2020 Games with a tricky par putt on the final green. But he said his cool exterior does not mean there are no nerves under the surface. “If you had a heart rate monitor on me at the Olympics, it would have been thumping,” he said. “I’m sitting there thinking how I’m going to make this putt so I can win the gold medal. That’s all that matters. It was a relief when I made it.”
Schauffele will tee off in the opening round in a star-studded group alongside Norway’s Viktor Hovland and two-time major champion Jon Rahm at 11:55 am local time (0955 GMT) Thursday.
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