Xander Schauffele will try to set aside Paris Olympics heartbreak as he plays alongside gold medalist Scottie Scheffler in the first two rounds of the PGA Tour playoffs. World number two Schauffele, the Tokyo Olympics champion, and top-ranked Scheffler, who surged on the final day to win in Paris, will be together Thursday and Friday at the PGA St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.
Schauffele, who won his first two major titles at this year's PGA Championship and British Open, shared the lead after the second and third rounds in pursuit of a gold medal repeat in Paris only to fire a 73 in the final round and finish seven strokes behind Scheffler. "It was bad," Schauffele said. "I was probably more tired than I thought I was.
"I was pretty bummed out. I went from thinking I could have a good look at gold to maybe silver, then to bronze, and then to, wow, I'm just spectating now. "That's sort of what happened the last seven, eight holes of that tournament.
So that was a bit of a bummer, especially with how the fans were out there. It must have been such a cool feeling to be in the hunt with important shots coming down that stretch, 15 to 18." Schauffele said he has already tried to analyze the reasons for his flop to try and avoid them over the PGA's three-week post-season run.
"Sort of identified what happened," he said. "I don't want to get back into my old habits that I've been trying to get out of in these last two or three months. I think some old o.