World No.4 and defending gold medallist Xander Schauffele really wants to go to Paris as a member of Team USA’s male Olympic golf quartet later this summer but knows he will have to maintain his best form if that dream is to become a reality.
The 30-year-old stood on the top step at the Tokyo Games three years ago after beating Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini by one as Chine Taipei’s C.T Pan triumphed in a seven-nation playoff for bronze over four holes.
Qualifying for the upcoming iteration has been underway for almost two full years now, and the cut-off date is shortly after the US Open at Pinehurst No.2 Course next month.
Team USA will take four male players to France for the men’s Olympic golf tournament at Le Golf National between August 1-4. Currently, Schauffele is one of them. The other three as things stand are World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, World No.3 Wyndham Clark, and Schauffele’s great friend and World No.8 Patrick Cantlay.
Meanwhile, there are several other huge names well capable of bringing a medal home with them – including Open Champion Brian Harman, Ryder Cupper Max Homa, and two-time Major winner Collin Morikawa. See also Sahith Theegala, Cameron Young, and Russell Henley.
Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Given the make-up of men’s pro golf, making the American Olympic team is thought to be the hardest task to carry out – not made any easier by the expanded squad size compared to many other nations.
Discussing his hopes for later in the summer prior to this week’s PGA Tour Signature Event – the Wells Fargo Championship – Schauffele said: “Yeah, it’s hard, you kind of have some plans in place.
“The US team, I’m sure there’s other teams, but the US team just feels like it’s a really hard one to qualify for even though they’re taking four guys. Imagine if they were taking two like most countries, it would be pretty brutal.
“But yeah, just trying to position myself. I haven’t really thought too far ahead. I’ve sort of planned if I were to qualify of sort of staying overseas, either popping in or hanging around versus coming back and doing the whole back and forth thing. Other than that, that’s sort of the extent of my brain traveling that far.”
One man who will almost certainly have to plan for…
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