Scottie Scheffler’s comments on Xander Schauffele speak volumes ahead of Olympics event

Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele are set to represent Team USA at the Paris 2024 Olympics, with Schauffele aiming to defend his Olympic title after a stellar season with two major wins. Scheffler, the reigning Masters champion, praised Schauffele as they prepare to compete at Le Golf National, the venue of the 2018 Ryder Cup.

Scheffler will begin the men’s Olympic event on Thursday as one of the top contenders, following an impressive year with a Masters win in April and six PGA Tour titles. He joins a formidable USA team that includes Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, and Collin Morikawa. Scheffler hopes to add an Olympic gold medal to his collection, capping off a remarkable season.

“It’s not very often you get to compete in the Olympics, so to have a medal for the rest of your life would be very special,” Scheffler said on Monday. “If I don’t, my life is certainly not going to end, but it would be extremely special to have a gold medal and it’s definitely one of the reasons why I’m here this week. I loved going to watch table tennis yesterday but that’s not why I showed up. I try to place an equal amount of value to all the tournaments I play.”

Scheffler’s season has been remarkable but has somewhat been overshadowed by Schauffele’s success. Schauffele won The Open Championship at Royal Troon earlier this month and the PGA Championship in May. “I love seeing people like him (Schauffele) have success because he does it the right way – he works hard,” Scheffler continued. “He’s not full of himself. We were playing a practice round today and I was actually thinking about it like, ‘Man, Xander is the exact same today after winning tournaments as he was if he had lost the tournament by one.'”

Golf returned to the Olympics at the 2016 Rio Games after a 112-year absence. However, Paris 2024 will be the first time the Games proceed without major disruptions. The Rio event saw several top players withdraw due to the Zika Virus, while the Tokyo Games were affected by Covid and delayed by a year.

“I think there’s always been weird situations surrounding the Olympics – the first one with Zika virus, and last one with Covid being a factor. I think that certainly had an effect on the Games,” Scheffler added. “And this year kind of being the first one where it will be fairly normal.”