Hottest players of year Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler lead Team USA charge in Olympic showdown

Scottie Scheffler might have the current edge in the PGA TOUR Player of the Year race, but Xander Schauffele is rapidly shrinking the gap – and could further narrow things at the Olympics.

The world’s top two players stayed true to their rankings in Thursday’s opening round of the men’s Olympic golf competition, as Schauffele carded 6-under 65 and Scheffler turned in a 4-under 67. Both are within striking distance of Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, the early leader with 8-under 63 at Le Golf National, and firmly in contention to earn medals at the Paris Games.

“I'm proud to be here representing our country,” Scheffler said after a bogey-free opening round. “It's been a long stretch for the year, but this has invigorated me playing for our country, seeing the other sports … going to the gymnastics final was special and watching the U.S. win the gold was really cool, and hope some of us can produce more medals for the U.S.”

Schauffele is perhaps golf’s hottest player at present, a two-time major champion this season including The Open Championship at Royal Troon two weeks ago, and he played like it Thursday with seven birdies against one bogey on a Le Golf National layout that featured softer conditions and lower scores than might have been forecasted. He’s one of two gold medalists in men’s golf in the modern Olympic games (Schauffele took gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games, following Justin Rose at the 2016 Rio Games), looking to defend his title from three years ago. There were no fans in Japan due to COVID-19; this week offers a contrasting canvas, with patrons in high spirits from the jump Thursday outside Paris.

Scheffler was no slouch himself Thursday, opening with two birdies in his first three holes en route to a bogey-free, 4-under 67. The world No. 1 (whose six titles this season include the Masters and THE PLAYERS Championship) is making his Olympics debut and has relished the experience on and off the course. The Texan attended the women’s gymnastics team final earlier this week and said Thursday that it was “one of the coolest sporting events, I think, I’ve ever been to.”

Scheffler was jovial in his early-week press conference, recounting his trip to the Louvre with wife Meredith and young son Bennett and how he relished learning the histories of paintings that spanned centuries. He then spoke Thursday of his feverish sports fandom and how that if he hadn’t attended other sports before his own competition started, he’d be thinking about it too much during tournament play. No such trouble; in addition to gymnastics, Scheffler has also took in table tennis, and he has followed the wider scope of competition throughout.

An exchange in Thursday’s post-round press conference highlighted the unique Olympic ethos, as Scheffler considered comparisons to dominant athletes from other sports. Scheffler referenced Katie Ledecky, who has recorded the 20 best times in 1,500-meter freestyle swimming, including this week’s dominant performance – more than 10 seconds clear of her closest pursuer to secure her eighth Olympic gold medal.

Scheffler compared Ledecky’s statistical achievement to shooting 20 rounds of 57 (the record low score in a TOUR-sanctioned event is 57). His career low on TOUR is 59. “I’m going to have to practice harder,” he quipped afterward.

The good news, here and now: He can join Ledecky this weekend in capturing Olympic gold.

Golf-wise, it’s a good start for Team USA, which was allowed to bring up to four men’s golfers to the Olympics due to their top 15 standing on the Official World Golf Ranking (beyond the world top 15, a given country could bring up to two players, with the 60-player field determined via the OWGR). Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark round out the American contingent in Paris.

Three rounds remain, but it’s an encouraging start for the world’s two hottest players who are supporting each other at Le Golf National – even amidst a spirited battle for season-long hardware. Adding to the American medal count is the week’s ultimate goal, after all.