Olympic Golf Review
If you are a sports fan then certainly you are currently following the Olympic Games. Well if you are reading this then you either missed out on the golf festivities or you are looking for an excellent summary of what you witnessed. Allow us to fill you in on everything you need to know about Olympic golf this year.
Notable Stories
Heading into the tournament all eyes were on the Korean competitors, Sungjae Im and Si Woo. The stakes were high for these two, because in their home country all able bodied men are required to serve in the military for 18-24 months. Their only way out of this requirement was by winning a medal at the Olympic Games. Unfortunately they did fall short of the medals, so they will have to return to their country and serve their time. We wish these men the best of luck in their future and hope to see them competing again soon.
Besides the Koreans there was a surprising victor sitting atop the leaderboard at the end of the first day of competition. This was none other than Austrian Sepp Straka who was leading on the first day by a score of eight under par. Straka managed to make it through the first day without making a single bogey, which as you can imagine led to the strong start.
Straka wasn’t the only competitor that went bogey free on the first day, with Justin Thomas right behind him. Although the problem with Thomas was that he went birdie and eagle free as well. On Wednesday Thomas played eighteen holes and made eighteen pars. This would certainly please a lot of ameatur golfers around the world, but for the pros this would be an annoying day. Either way Thomas managed to laugh off the round when asked about the day and summarize it into one word, he simply said “Par”.
The Gold Medalist
From the second day onward, American Xander Schauffele sat atop the leaderboard and represented America well. Following in his father’s Olympic dreams, Schauffele was more than proud to take home the gold medal this weekend. For those that do not know, Schauffele’s father used to live in Germany and tried for the Olympics there. Until his hopes were crushed at the young age of 20 when he was hit by a drunk driver and became blind in his left eye. It is safe to say that Schauffele was more than proud to win this medal.
Time to Celebrate!
After winning an Olympic medal you have to believe that you would party for hours on end. Well this was certainly true for the new champion Xander Schauffele, but his celebration started out a little different than most. Rather than heading straight to the bars, he first had to head straight to the head (toilet for most people). Not because he was sick, but because he was required to take a drug test immediately following his victory.
Following his drug test, and passing, we presume, he went straight into the post round interview questions. When asked about his plans for the party he shared that unfortunately all of the bars and liquor stores were already closed in Japan by that time of night. Although this didn’t stop Schauffele and his caddy from grabbing a few drinks at the clubhouse. From there the two immediately started taking videos and pictures with the gold medal and posting them all over social media.
Schauffele’s caddie and good friend Austin Kaiser quickly got featured on Golf.com for his antics with the gold medal. Schauffele, being a family man, wanted to share his victory with his grandparents who had been in Tokyo all week long. The only problem was that all Olympic athletes are required to stay in the bubble in Tokyo which does not allow them outside guests. However with golfers they are staying in a hotel which is still allowing outside guests to spend the night.
As you might be able to guess, Schauffele’s friend hooked up his grandparents with the hotel room right next to their grandson. This allowed Schauffele to spend the evening with his grandparents after all. It is safe to say that they were very proud of him, as are all Americans. Since that evening Schauffele and Kaiser were able to catch a flight back to Memphis, Tennessee to bring the gold medal back home to the states.
When asked about the whole experience and celebration Schauffele said, “Didn’t get much sleep. Obviously just a really nice moment that I was able to share there with family and my direct team that I had with me in Japan. I had a little celebration with a bunch of the caddies on the plane. It was one of the guys’ birthdays, so we had plenty of reasons to cheer and drink.”
Schauffele calls San Diego home, so he still has another flight to catch before making it the whole way home. Although we don’t doubt the fact that people will be anticipating him at home to congratulate him on the gold medal. Golf is a hard enough sport to win on any level, let alone the Olympic stage. Coming up we will discuss what Schauffele and other PGA Tour players have to look forward to. Although let us not forget that the women are currently competing for the gold medal in Tokyo. So keep your eyes on them golf fans, until the upcoming PGA Tour event.
Looking Forward
Coming off the worldwide stage here, we actually move forward with another worldwide event at the WGC-Fedex St. Jude Invitational. This is a great transition from the Olympics back to professional golf, because it keeps that level of international competition the same. Many athletes left the Olympics prouder than when they came and had a newfound appreciation and drive for the sport. It will certainly be fun to watch this passion carry over back onto the professional tours that the players are accustomed to.