With dad in new role, Xander Schauffele looks to defend Olympic gold

Family and friends couldn’t attend the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Xander Schauffele’s dad Stefan was an exception. At the time, the elder Schauffele served as his son’s swing instructor (hence a permitted attendee), the continued evolution of a path together that surpassed what Stefan first expected.

“He's like, ‘I have no clue how far we're going to get,’” Schauffele recalls his dad telling him at a younger age.

Stefan Schauffele, whose Olympic dreams as a German decathlete were wiped out by a drunk driver in a 1986 car crash, channeled his energy into helping his son reach his potential as an athlete, which hit a crescendo with a gold medal in Tokyo. At the time, the younger Schauffele was a steady TOUR pro with four wins on his resume and a promising track record in majors, but whispers lingered as to his abilities to win the game’s biggest titles.

Schauffele looks to defend his Olympic gold this week at Le Golf National, having answered these questions and reached a new crescendo.

Schauffele arrived in Paris for the men’s Olympic golf competition as a two-time major winner this season, adding The Open at Royal Troon two weeks ago to his breakthrough at the PGA Championship in May, and he suddenly has a chance to challenge world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (a six-time TOUR winner this season, including the Masters and THE PLAYERS Championship) for PGA TOUR Player of the Year honors.

Much has changed in Schauffele’s golf life, including on the instruction side. His dad no longer serves as his swing coach and wasn’t even on-site at the PGA Championship, joyously watching from a Hawaiian island, but he was there at The Open and will watch the men’s Olympic golf competition as a father and supporter. Schauffele now works on the swing with Chris Como; the two have long held a close relationship, and Como’s fresh set of eyes (and biomechanics acumen) have helped Schauffele find the extra edge to break through in majors.

If Schauffele once carried a burden for his lack of major championship hardware, that’s gone now. After feeling uncomfortable throughout the closing stretch at Valhalla, those feelings had mostly dissipated at Royal Troon, he said Tuesday. He doesn’t drink much, but he allowed himself an exception after earning the claret jug, as he spent last week in Portugal with Collin Morikawa and their wives. “Three days in a row drinking was quite a feat for myself,” he quipped, “and the recovery, that was also slow.”

Years ago, Stefan Schauffele promised his son that he would take him as far as he could go in this game. The elder Schauffele has spent time working as a golf instructor, mostly with kids, and that sentiment is common phrasing for teaching pros who work with promising junior golfers until it’s time for a new set of eyes.

Under his dad’s tutelage, Schauffele went quite far, becoming a gold medalist and a proven contender week in and week out. But that last stone, the one that could offer a push into superstardom, remained unturned.

“My dad was the first one to tell me, ‘We'll see how far we can get as a team in this game of golf,’” Schauffele said Tuesday. “For me to be a consistent top-10 player in the world with my dad as a coach is a huge credit to my dad for what he built and what he made me.

“There were some questions we had that we didn't really have some answers to, and Chris has got a really good background in biomechanics and has been coaching for a very long time … He's a really good communicator, and my dad has kind of known him for a bit, too. So once we linked up and had conversation, it was a pretty smooth go, and luckily the changes were implemented quickly and obviously have beared some good fruit.”

Schauffele and Justin Rose (2016) are the only two modern-era gold medalists in men’s golf, and it’s a trophy that can be expected to gain prestige over time, as kids grow up watching Olympic golf and the corresponding context takes shape. Stefan Schauffele didn’t coach his son for the major wins, but he coached him toward the major wins, with 2021 Olympic gold a crucial step in that journey.

Now it’s time, as his son sees it, to enjoy it.

“I’m 30 years old now, and once you have success, it's always my goal, I want my dad to be happy and I want him to do what he wants to do,” Schauffele said. “He's going to turn 60 this year. I don't think he wants to sit on the range, 95 degrees and watch me pound golf balls all day. I wouldn't want to do that when I'm 60.

“We'll see, I guess. As the years have gone on, I've been trying to take hats way from him just so he can relax a little bit and enjoy his life a little bit more since he's helped me so much.”

This week, Stefan Schauffele can relish the Olympics as a fan and as a dad. That’s not a bad gig.