It’s good to be Xander Schauffele right now.
Just days removed from his second major championship win, the 30-year-old is taking a short breather before defending his Olympic gold medal in Paris next week.
What has it been like for Schauffele in the aftermath of his incredible achievement at Royal Troon?
“What a ride it’s been these past couple months,” Schauffele told ESPN’s Matt Barrie on “SportsCenter Wednesday.
What a ride indeed. After posting 12 top 10s in the majors since 2017, Schauffele has won two of his past three, with a T7 at the U.S. Open in between for good measure.
It was the performance at the PGA Championship at Valhalla in May that opened the floodgates for Schauffele. His final-round 65 was enough to clip Bryson DeChambeau by one shot. The self-belief he manifested at Valhalla ultimately gave him an edge down the stretch at Royal Troon over the weekend.
“The momentum people talk about in golf is all self belief, it’s all confidence,” Schauffele told Barrie. “Earlier in the week, I talked about winning that first major, didn’t really do anything for me walking into the major. But if I was ever in a place to win the tournament, I felt like it was gonna give me an edge. And I feel like that’s exactly kind of what happened.
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“I either spoke it into existence or that’s sort of what happened. Because coming down on that back nine, I was right there in the hunt, and I did it a few months ago and I told myself, you can take control of this tournament, knowing you won one just prior, and knowing how hard it is, if you can sneak a few birdies in when no one else is, you’re gonna walk away with this thing.”
With the Olympics looming, Barrie asked Schauffele what it would be like for him to add another golf medal to his hardware haul.
“I may never come down to earth,” Schauffele said with a smile.
He did admit, however, to being quickly grounded by his U.S. Olympic teammates.
“I played golf for the first time today against, you know, I got Wyndham [Clark] and Colin [Morikawa] out here,” he said. “We’re out getting ready for the Olympics and I lost to both of them today. So, quickly humbled and quickly feeling the need to get back to work.”
The first round of the Paris Olympics begins on Aug. 1. You can watch Schauffele’s full interview on “SportsCenter” here.
