No one would blame Xander Schauffele if fatigue factors into his performance at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational this week in Memphis.
That’s because the 27-year-old is less than 72 hours removed from an extended stay at the Tokyo Olympics. But, if jetlag becomes an issue for Schauffele, he’s confident it will be offset by the shiny new gold medal he was carrying around with him when he arrived at TPC Southwind on Tuesday.
Schauffele is still riding high after striking gold for the United States on Sunday, besting silver medalist Rory Sabbatini. The San Diego native arrived in Memphis mid-morning Monday following a 12-plus hour direct flight from Japan.
“But, I think playing really well and, obviously, having a gold medal is just feeding my energy,” he said. “You want to win each and every week, and now that I finally got this taste of winning and being able to win from up front, that’s why I think all of us compete. That’s the rush we really chase, (but) I’m ready to get back to work.”
Schauffele came close, he said, to not even having to worry about the potential toll that spending so much time halfway around the world would take on him leading up to this week’s WGC event.
“I joked with my wife about that right when I called her,” Schauffele said. “She was like, ‘Can you imagine that there’s a little piece of you that almost didn’t show up to Tokyo?’ But overall I think it was – going into it, I sort of corrected my mindset on the whole matter and really just focused on this four‑day golf tournament. Then, being able to take the podium afterwards really made me understand and realize sort of how special it actually is being there on the podium, winning any medal obviously.”
Now, though, Schauffele is ready to focus all his thoughts and energy on the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
“What was done last week is done. I need to sort of get back on the time zone, really start to focus more, lock back in and try to play well this week,” he said. “Fortunately I’m not coming to a new property, one that I’ve played a few times and had minimal success on, but I think I’m obviously in decent form coming overseas. Looking forward to the week.”
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.
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