World No. 1 and Texas alumnus Scottie Scheffler added yet another accolade to his already overflowing trophy case after winning the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Scheffler is currently having one of the most impressive single-year performances from a golfer in recent memory. He has accumulated 12 career PGA tour wins, six of which have been won in 2024. With $28,148,691 in current earnings from the ongoing season, Scheffler has destroyed the previous single-season earnings record, which stood at $21,014,342, a record also held by Scheffler for the entire 2022-2023 season. Scheffler has also remained atop the world’s No.1 spot for 98 straight weeks. Winning the golf competition at this year’s Olympics is just the golden cherry on top.
This appearance by Scheffler in Paris was his first in the Olympics. In 2020, Scheffler was not a part of the American delegation of golfers that traveled to Tokyo. Now, having his first opportunity to represent his country in the Olympics, Scheffler rose to the occasion.
In the opening round, Scheffler sat at sixth, going four under for the day. Four strokes off of the leader Hideki Matsuyama, Scheffler had ground to make up. The second round saw Scheffler continue to struggle and fail to crack the top five of the leaderboard. Scheffler’s position quickly dropped to tenth and fellow American Xander Schauffele tied Matsuyama for the lead.
On the third day of play, Scheffler worked his way back to sixth but still seemed out of reach of any of the medals, nonetheless gold. But in the final round of the match, Scheffler proved why he is the best in the world.
Having his best round of the Olympic match, Scheffler shot 62 and went nine under par. It was enough to beat silver medalist Tommy Fleetwood by a single stroke with Scheffler finishing at 19 under par and Fleetwood finishing at 18 under par, securing Scheffler’s victory.
“It’s been a long week,” Scheffler said to NBC. “It’s been a challenging week … and I’m proud to be going home with a medal.”
Scheffler had done the improbable, coming back to win for more than just himself, but for his country as well. Olympic golf was capped off by the medal ceremony in which Scheffler accepted his gold and a rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner brought more than just pride to the world No. 1, but tears as well.
Now, Scheffler heads home and, on top of everything else, is now an Olympic champion.
“I’m proud of the country I’m from,” Scheffler said to CBS. “I’m proud to be an American. … I take tremendous pride in coming over here and representing my country. … It was just very emotional being up there on stage as the flag is being raised. … That’s definitely one I’ll remember for a long time.”
