World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler has been a normal dad and tourist at Paris Olympics

Posted by Admin July 29, 2024 Golf

The world’s No. 1 golfer made it to Paris, but as you’d expect, the Olympic version of the guy isn’t any different.

No posh cameo during the opening ceremony. No fanfare. No celebrity.

Nah, Scottie Scheffler pushed a stroller through the Louvre, and hardly anyone noticed him.

“A few pictures,” Scheffler told reporters Monday at Le Golf National. Maybe “a few people looking at me weird” at times.

“We were there for two hours,” he said, “and I felt like I could have been there for days exploring around looking at all the old paintings.”

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Scheffler makes his Olympic debut this week in the men’s tournament, which begins Thursday at Le Golf National near Paris, having qualified as one of four golfers on Team USA. He’ll join reigning Olympic champion Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa in an expected field of 60 players.

Considering Scheffler has won six tournaments thus far in 2024, it’s difficult not to consider him a favorite for the gold medal.

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But this is a whole other type of event. The four-round setup and individual competition might be similar to a typical pro golf tournament, but it has “definitely a different vibe this week,” said Scheffler.

For one, he’s a tourist on a European vacation with family. Wife Meredith and newborn son accompanied him to France. He’s planning to go watch gymnastics Tuesday. He caught some table tennis Sunday.

“When Wednesday comes around,” he said, “we really kind of get strongly into tournament mode and that will probably be it for the festivities for the week. …

“It would be extremely special to have a gold medal, and it’s definitely one of the reasons why I’m here this week. I loved going to watch table tennis, but that’s not why I showed up.”