The Open champion Xander Schauffele went on three-day drinking bender before Olympics
Xander Schauffele is out to cap a glorious year with a second Olympic gold medal.
For so many athletes, appearing at an Olympic Games is the culmination of a lifelong dream, the reward for four years of focus, dedication, and extreme sacrifices. Unless you’re Xander Schauffele that is, whose preparation for Paris has included the unusual ploy of a three-day long drinking session.
And we aren’t talking fruit juice and coffee, with the champion from Tokyo admitting he broke his customary lifestyle routine to let his hair down.
Of course, the 30-year-old had a perfectly plausible excuse for sinking a few beers after capturing his second major of the year at The Open Championship at Royal Troon.
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It capped a superb season for the Ryder Cup star following his US PGA triumph in Valhalla in May. And after being handed the famous Claret Jug, he candidly admitted he planned on filling it that night with alcohol, but promised to let his father choose the drink.
Schauffele is now out to defend his Olympic title this week having been selected to represent Team USA alongside Colin Morikawa. And ahead of Thursday’s opening round, he revealed the full extent of his Open celebrations.
"I don't really drink much alcohol," he said. "So three days in a row drinking was quite a feat for someone like myself, and the recovery, well that was also slow.”
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And Schauffele admitted the hangover didn’t pass quickly, adding: "I wear like an Oura ring or WHOOP and for me, tracking my sleep every day…well. It took a while for me to get my scores back to where they normally are, put it that way."
He did then reveal he soon switched to a more relaxed approach to Paris, heading on holiday with Morikawa and their partners. "I was in Portugal with Colin and we had a really nice time there," he said.
"We played golf for three days and it was fun. We had our girls with us and some nice team bonding. It was really chill, as chill as I would have wanted it, especially after a really tough stretch."
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Schauffele’s unusual build-up certainly appears to have paid dividends at Le Golf National, after he made it to six-under par after 17 holes. Play was then suspended amid a threat of thunderstorms over the course.
He went into his impromptu break one shot off overall leader Hideki Matsuyama. The Japanese player shot a sublime eight-under 63 earlier on today.
