Weekly Recap: Schauffele Strikes Gold

Xander Schauffele's long winless drought was bordering on Tony Finau-esque proportions. It was going strong at two and a half years when he arrived in Tokyo for the Summer Olympics. There were numerous times Schauffele was in position to end it, but there also was a growing list of improbable, self-inflicted implosions.

So, when leading by a stroke and finding himself in the woods off the tee of the par-5 14th -- one of the easiest holes on the Kasumigaseki Country Club course -- it would've been easy for a little voice in his head to say, "Uh oh, here we go again."

(A personal moment, please: As someone who drafted Schauffele and pinned success in the season-long RotoWire staff league largely on this one golfer, my head went to "Uh oh, here we go again" even faster than it could have for Schauffele.)

While Schauffele bogeyed the hole to fall into a tie with Rory Sabbatini, it was actually a miraculous bogey, and he never looked like he lost his composure. His gold-medal dreams could've end there, but they didn't. When he delivered an extraordinary up-and-down on 18, Schauffele became the fourth golf gold medalist in Olympic history.

Sabbatini finished with the silver after an out-of-nowhere Olympic-record 10-under 61. C.T. Pan captured the bronze by surviving a whopping seven-man playoff in which he was by far the lowest-ranked golfer.

Schauffele had been in or around the top five in the world rankings for much of his 30-month winless skid -- a pretty impressive feat in itself. It speaks to the many close calls he had, plus the OWGR deeming him the winner of the 2020 Tour Championship by virtue of having the lowest 72-hole score and ignoring the PGA Tour's staggered start.

He had multiple chances to win in 2021, only to implode. He found the water on 17 at Phoenix, opening the door for Brooks Koepka. He found water again on 16 at Augusta, turning a tenuous situation for Hideki Matsuyama into a stress-free Masters win. And, while Schauffele wasn't going to win at Quail Hollow, he cost himself a top-5 by again finding water on 17. These were all enormous unforced errors in critical moments. The scar tissue was getting thick.

So when Schauffele sent his tee ball on 14 to the extreme right, resulting in a penalty drop, the wheels could've come off.  They didn't -- but they almost did. After birdieing the drivable par-4 17th to take a one-shot lead, the hit another terrible drive way right on 18. Only a gold-medal-winning up-and-down -- literally and figuratively -- from about 100 yards out saved him.

"I was trying so hard to just stay calm," Schauffele told reporters in Japan. "Hit a terrible drive on 18, had to make a sort of sloppy par and fortunately hit it close enough to sort of have a high percentage putt at roughly four, five feet. But, man, it was stressful. I made that putt and it was just a huge weight lifted off my shoulders."

The obvious question now is, does this open the proverbial floodgates for Schauffele to win with at least some regularity? He now knows he can, in fact, close the deal. Well, let's not hold him to winning this week's WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis. Coming down from such a momentous event in a span of four days -- not to mention half a world away -- is a tough ask. But a strong performance might indicate a stronger mental toughness for Schauffele leading into the three-event FedExCup Playoffs later this month.

All in all, it's kind of hard and a bit unfair to criticize a guy who was No. 5 in the world -- and now No. 4, equaling his career best.

Unless, of course, he is on your fantasy team.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Rory Sabbatini
There certainly was plenty of skepticism in 2018 when the native South African became a citizen of Slovakia, his wife's home country. It was viewed as an end-around to qualify for the Olympics. We'll never know for sure. But after that Olympic-record 61 on Sunday to snatch the silver medal, Sabbatini said all the right things about growing the sport in a country with very few professional golfers. If that happens, then the citizenship change will deliver on a greater good, whatever its original motives. As for the 45-year-old Sabbatini's golf game, it had been awful in 2021 as he fell outside the top 200 in the world rankings. He'd missed 11-of-18 cuts, including four straight heading into Tokyo. He sits 138th in the FedExCup Standings with just one more opportunity to crack the top 125, make the playoffs and keep his card. That will be at the Wyndham in two weeks; Sabbatini is not entered in this week's Barracuda. While there are no FedEx Cup points from the Olympics, there are world-ranking points, and Sabbatini soared back to No. 111.

C.T. Pan
Pan was another surprising story, not only for playing 66-66-63 over the final three days but then emerging from the superstar-laden, seven-man playoff to take the bronze. Like Sabbatini, Pan was amid a terrible 2021 -- he has missed 10-of-17 cuts and also had fallen outside the top-200. The big difference, though, was a single event, a tie for third at the Honda. Pan sits 116th in the point standings and thus should be safely through to the playoffs. He's now back inside the top 150 of the OWGR at 135th.

Collin Morikawa
Still basking in his Open Championship win, a flat performance would not have been unexpected from Morikawa. And he did start out that way. But he closed with a 63 to get into the bronze-medal playoff. At that point, any of the seven was good enough to win. He made it to the final two. Morikawa now faces the tough task -- as many of the Olympians do -- of regrouping for this week's WGC event.

Rory McIlroy
In many ways, the Olympic tournament mirrored so many other recent tournaments for McIlroy: a top-10 without ever really contending. Finishing tied for fourth in a small, relatively weak field (319 strength-of-field OWGR rating) did nothing to change the narrative that McIlroy is not among the best golfers right now. Even his win at the Wells Fargo in the spring now looks like an outlier rather than a springboard. McIlroy now turns his attention to the WGC field this week in Memphis.

Hideki Matsuyama
The pressure playing in his home country had to be enormous, so even being in position to medal was a huge accomplishment for Matsuyama. Of course, if he had been able to putt even a little better, a medal surely would've been his. A lot like Morikawa but not quite as good, Matsuyama's tee-to-green game is so strong that he can contend, even win, without much help from his putter. But he needs to make some putts. He'll also be in the WGC this week.

Paul Casey
Casey's great 2021 continued with a near-miss for the bronze. There are very few weeks he's not at least on the periphery of contending, and he should have very favorable DFS prices for this week's WGC event.

Sebastian Munoz
It's been an all-or-nothing 2021 for the Colombian, and this was clearly an "all" week as he was part of the seven-man playoff for the bronze. Munoz recently had other top-5s at the John Deere and the Charles Schwab, but he's also missed nine cuts in 21 starts since January. He did not qualify for Memphis and will take this week off.

Mito Pereira
The Chilean began July on the Korn Ferry Tour and ended it contending for an Olympic medal. At age 26, Pereira is clearly on the rise, now on the brink of cracking the top-100 OWGR at 103rd. He is also 178th in the FedEx point standings and could make a big leap this week as one of the top guys in the opposite-field Barracuda Championship.

Viktor Hovland
The Norwegian was good but not great in Tokyo, closing with a 64 to climb the leaderboard and tie for 14th. It was enough to get him inside the top-10 of the world rankings for the first time, checking in at No. 10.

Scott Vincent
The little-known Zimbabwean began the week 264th in the world rankings. He tied for 16th in Tokyo, which was notable because he was highest finisher who isn't a PGA Tour member. The enormous disparity between tours in these types of tournaments is usually on display. Vincent has been playing mostly in Japan this year. At age 29, this strong finish may boost him to higher heights, such as transitioning full-time to the European Tour.

Justin Thomas
The months-long malaise continued. Thomas tied for 22nd, but don't let the backdoor top-25 fool you. It just hasn't been a great year after THE PLAYERS win, and now Thomas has fallen to fifth in the world rankings behind Schauffele. He heads to Memphis this week as the defending champion. If that doesn't spur him on, what will?

Patrick Reed
Reed was in the difficult position of being a last-minute substitute once Bryson DeChambeau tested positive. He already was playing the 3M Open in Minneapolis, and he didn't get a single practice round in before teeing it up on Thursday. A tie for 22nd was pretty dang good.

Sungjae Im
Hideki Matsuyama had a lot of pressure playing for Japan in Japan, but Im had his own type of pressure – and in some ways greater. He was playing for a medal to avoid a 20-month military-service commitment in Korea. He didn't secure a medal, of course. But still only 23, Im will still have another chance to medal, at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The military requirement doesn't begin until age 28.

Si Woo Kim
Kim is in a much more precarious position that his countryman Im. Kim is 26 and this seemingly was his last chance to avoid Korea's military commitment by age 28. He just turned 26 in late June. A lot can happen in two years, but Korea has been pretty strict about its policy and Kim seemingly has no other golf avenues to circumvent the requirement. He tied for 32nd in Tokyo.