Xander Schauffele Takes Gold With A Clutch Putt on 18
Wooo man what a golf tournament we had on our hands at Kasumigasecki in the wee hours of Sunday morning. The X man was in control of this tournament pretty much since firing a 63 in round 2 on Friday. If you’re a golf guy or gal, it was pretty much no secret to you that this tournament meant a little bit more for him than most of the other players in the field. Xander’s father was a world class decathlon athlete who had his Olympic opportunity taken away from him by a drunk driver. Stefan Schauffele has been his coach for many years as X had chased and enjoyed success on Tour at a young age, but he’s somewhat stalled the past couple of years with a good handful of narrow losses. This W serves as a breakthrough of sorts at a tournament that they wanted badly. Bravo.
The final day was highlighted by Rory Sabbatini playing outside of his mind. Guy wasn’t even a factor going into the day and then he played a -10 61 to steal a clubhouse lead and apply a ton of pressure on Schauffele and the rest of the field. He even mixed two bogeys in and still went that low.
I mean credit to the guy for going low and ultimately earning himself a silver medal, but he also had no business playing in this tournament. Guy was born South African, lives in South Florida, and only became a Slovakian citizen in 2018 because his wife is from there. They weren’t even coy about it. The competition amongst South Africans is stiff to qualify for the Olympics and it’s virtually nonexistent in Slovakia, so there ya have it. It’s so clear that he loopholes his way in to play in the Olympics but it is what it is. Again, guy played out of his mind, but I think the hive for the other Rory is few and far between.
Anyway, Sabbatini posted -17 in the house and left X out there to find a way to bring it home. Xander was able to bury a massive 6 footer for birdie on 17 and found himself in trouble off the tee on 18, but was able to punch out and get up and down from 98 out to take the whole damn thing. Love to see it for the Americans.
Meanwhile we’re in the midst of a SEVEN WAY PLAYOFF for the bronze medal. Big names at play here. Morikawa, Rory (McIlroy), Hideki, Paul Casey, Mito Pereira, CT Pan, and Sebastian Munoz continue to duke it out for a spot on the podium. So fuckin awesome right now and they’re dropping like flies as I type this. Nobody can make birdie, guys are just grinding out pars. Hideki and Casey are out and we’re down to 5 guys. It’s 4 AM, I’m home from the bar, and I’m hanging on for dear life watching these guys just try to leave with something to show for their week.
Love X winning gold and praying Collin comes through. So much fun. Love international golf. Want more. Need more. LFG X.