Xander Schauffele Carries his Father’s Dream to the Olympics
Xander Schauffele is one of the best golfers in the world. Duh, you already knew that. Being selected to the USA men’s Olympic Golf team is a huge milestone for him, but there’s more to it than that.
Most of the time he’d probably think about this as another big golf tournament, but this is the Olympics, which means this is personal, not just for him, but Xander’s father Stefan.
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Stefan Schauffele was training to become an Olympic athlete, vying to represent Germany in the decathlon. He was trying to become a member of the prestigious “Aufbaukader”, which roughly translates to “development team”, in German.
Stefan Schauffele participated in a small track event, he would give solid performances, he never could find his way onto the podium. Later that competition, Stefan was asked by a pair of men whether he had any interest in the decathlon, which is a collection of ten different track and field events.
“It never crossed my mind”, Schauffele said. Stefan was invited to the Aufbaukader on the German decathlon team, a group that only takes in a few people each year.
The German’s had him take a series of medical tests and decathlon events. Stefan was told that if he could improve upon his pole vaulting skill, he could become one of the top decathletes in the world.
As he started his training for pole vaulting, there was no doubt that Stefan Schauffele had all of the tools to be a star in the event, and was on a crash course with the medal stand at the 1988 Olympic games in Seoul, South Korea. Unfortunately, fate would have other plans.
In November of 1986, Stefan as involved in a terrible car accident after a drunk driver sped into a blind curve and colliding with Schauffele’s car head-on.
He had to have six different eye surgeries within two years. Stefan Schauffele knew that his dreams of being an Olympic athlete were over.
Stefan said, “The last memory of my Olympic dream was all the guys from the German decathlon team coming to my hospital room. It was an emotional farewell.” He would go on to talk about how he dealt with substance abuse and how he worked through it, to ultimately move to the United States in search of a new start.
Stefan used the low points in his life as inspiration to better himself and change his attitudes into positive ones for the rest of his life.
Stefan now serves as Xander’s mental and swing coach on the PGA Tour. Stefan sees himself in Xander and is living his Olympic dream through his son, who I think takes the gold this weekend in Kawagoe.
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Xander is well aware of the emotion his dad is feeling this week as he lives out the dream his father was so unfairly robbed of. Even with Covid-19 making it extraordinarily difficult for the two to really savor this moment together, they can still feel each other’s energy and emotion.
If Xander Schauffele is good enough to make the podium this week, his dad will be right next to him, if not physically, then spiritually. It would be poetic justice for a moment that would be 33 years in the making that was only derailed by unfathomably bad luck.