MEN'S OLYMPIC GOLF COMPETITION

August 1, 2024

Xander Schauffele

Le Golf National

Quick Quotes

Q. Heck of a front nine to get rolling. Good way to start defense of your Olympic gold medal today.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yes, thank you. Good start to the tournament.

Q. What did you think of the atmosphere? Were you expecting that many people when you got here?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I wasn't. I looked at the course, I thought of the Ryder Cup. I was like, wow, what a venue, just the way everything sits and the way the course was designed with the moguls and mounds and everyone can kind of see.

A lot of water everywhere. It's kind of a scene, to be honest. And was just getting across the bleachers on 1 was amazing. Everyone starts chanting. It was loud. And then it got really quiet before everyone teed off.

I had Matthieu Pavon behind me. They were chanting his name. They're saying, "Let's go Blue." They were making it an awesome experience, no doubt.

Q. Were you expecting that many people?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I don't know what I was expecting. I heard 30,000 a day, which is a lot. It's a ton of people. And I heard they got up to like 18ish, maybe, 20 today, something like that. We'll make it up as we go. What we normally do. But it was an awesome atmosphere. And the fact that there's only 20 groups, the fans sort of -- it's very congested in the best way possible.

Q. When you got your ball in play on 1, did it feel like any other tournament you've played, or is there anything different about it, and if so, why?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It was different. I don't know. It felt different. You hear some "U.S.A." chants. I think when I was on hole 2, it started to feel really different. When they were chanting Mito's name while we were just out there and it was kind of echoing around the corner there, it was like this is pretty special.

Q. Your game, was it pretty much a continuation of Royal Troon; you just picked up where you left off?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No, not really. Chip-in on 1 was pretty lucky. Skanked an iron out to the right. Then skanked another iron on 2 way right to the pin, was able to get up-and-down and pulled a drive on 3. So it wasn't sort of the dream, stripy start that you envision as a golfer. But I'm happy to sort of ride the ship in and get away with what could have been worse.

Q. Was that the best you could have shot today?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: No, I missed a few putts coming in. But it's Thursday. I'm not really sweating it too much.

Q. You've been the reigning Olympic champion the last three years. Do you feel any extra pressure this morning as that defending champion to retain that title?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Not really. Not like a normal event, to be honest. I feel I'm so far removed, as the Olympic Games go on for us in golf, you're so far removed you really don't feel it. For me, Tokyo was really special, obviously, but there were no fans. The city was closed. I was stuck in my hotel room.

Going out to eat dinner, seeing people everywhere, seeing fans everywhere chanting, it feels like I'm here for the first time.

Q. A proper Olympic experience now.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah. I went to a swim match the other night, put things into perspective for me. It was very cool.

Q. Anyone in particular inspire you, any other athletes from any other sports, anything you've seen?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I could kind of try to answer both at the same time, how so. And for sure. I mean, I was there when Léon, the swimmer, the French swimmer, Marchand, he qualified for both the semifinals that night. Was it Tuesday maybe. And our girls did pretty good. And we had a U.S., Bobby Finke, I think his name, he finished second in the 1500 meter. We're sitting in the stands; how long would it take me to do that, 45 minutes?

So just the appreciation, even on like the 100 meter. You see these people gear up. I started to feel that sort of four years for this 55 seconds, the pressure of that and the feeling of that is sort of what I meant when I said that.

Q. Was play easier that you would have thought based on what you saw earlier in the week?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's there for the taking, if you're hitting in the fairway. But you can make a mess of it pretty easily. There's water a lot; the weather was -- the wind did like three different things on the first two holes. So there's water and wind going in the opposite direction of what the compass is saying; it's never the best feeling.

Q. What's the best thing you did today?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Kind of the best thing was sort of getting over my sort of kind of clanky start. I'd say just kind of riding the ship and using some old experience and calmness to get back on track and hit some better shots coming in. Other than that, it was just another day.

Q. How many times have you had a clanky start?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Kind of often, I'd say. Kind of done it all. Struck it on the range, shot 5-over on the front two. Golf's a funny one.

Q. Does your physio visit routine, is that what you would do after the round, or was there --

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Normal.