KAWAGOE, Japan — Sleep had not come easy to Xander Schauffele the night before the opening round of the men’s golf stroke play tournament at the Tokyo Olympics.
Pop-up thunderstorms have threatened, and will continue to do so through the weekend, the area around the Kasumigaseki Country Club, about 75 minutes northwest of Tokyo. Play has been suspended thrice in the first two rounds due to weather. On Wednesday evening, a storm knocked the power out — and perhaps most consequentially the air conditioning — at Schauffele’s hotel, leading to an uncomfortable night.
No such issues existed Thursday night and on Friday, Schauffele rolled to the top of the leaderboard thanks to a furious final five holes (eagle, par, birdie, birdie, birdie) to shoot an 8-under 63. That moved him to 11-under for the tournament, one shot ahead of Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz.
He and his father, his coach, watched Olympic table tennis and judo while eating a Japanese dinner.
“AC was on all night,” he said after his much-improved second round, which ended minutes before officials suspended play for the day at 5:20 p.m. local time.
Schauffele didn’t feel the need to overthink his weekend rounds while sitting on the 36-hole lead.
“The work is done even before you show up to the tournament. If you’re sitting around after a round trying to think-tank it and figure out what you’re doing wrong,” Schauffele said, “you’re doing it wrong.
“There’s a very small group of people that have won from too far behind,” he added. “If you’re trying to win golf tournaments, you need to be in the hunt.”
Entering Saturday’s third round, he will be the hunted.
The 27-year-old began rolling on the par-4 sixth, which he drove within eight feet of the 294-yard pin using a 3-wood he tried to hit as high as he could in the air.
“It was nice to capitalize on a good tee shot,” he said.
Then lightning forced the field off the course for more than 90 minutes.
Schauffele has recently taken up reading, something those who know him well would laugh at, he said. The material is mostly self-help and mental strategy books. He leaned on those tactics to stay fresh after the delay.
“It all brings me back to a simple conclusion, which is something that was preached to me at a young age,” he said, “… stay patient in tough times.
“I’ve been pressing really hard for a long period of time to win a golf tournament to be completely honest,” he added. “There was a point today where I started to get a little impatient, and I kind of had to remind myself back to the times where I did win.”
His second eagle of the day came on the par-5 14th, a scoring opportunity for the majority of the field. Schauffele pulled his second shot to the left and the ball landed 43 feet from the pin. The ensuing putt’s path crossed a ridge, and Schauffele would have to hit it with near-perfect speed to give himself a birdie opportunity. Instead, he drained it.
“It’s always nice to make those putts with a nice pace,” he said.
On No. 18, Schauffele thought he pulled his 8-iron approach, but the ball landed on a slope and rolled to within 13 feet. By that point, he was in the zone, and converted his third consecutive birdie opportunity. He birdied five times in each of the first two rounds.
“It kind of comes in bunches,” he said. “I’ve just been trying to stay very shot-to-shot … I think that’s when I play my best.”
American teammates Patrick Reed and Collin Morikawa sit eight shots back of their teammate, and Justin Thomas is at 1-under for the tournament with one hole remaining in the second round, which will conclude Saturday morning before the third round commences.
While gold-medal dreams might start creeping in, Schauffele knows remaining present will give him the best chance.
“I’m just going to try and stay as patient as possible through the finish line,” he said.
Asked what a medal would mean to him, he replied: “Man, I’d love to tell you on Sunday.”
Receiving hardware for a second- or third-place finish might be unusual for “perfectionist” golfers, Schauffele said, but that’s thinking too far ahead.
“If you represent your country to the best of your ability and you’re very proud of your country, I think it’s an honor to win a medal. It doesn’t matter what color,” he said. “Obviously we’re all shooting for gold.”
After two days, he’s in prime position to do just that.
Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.
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