Xander Schauffele’s gold medal missing in action
Having moved into a new home in Las Vegas in 2021, one would think Xander Schauffele has found a special place to display his gold medal from the Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Think again.
In fact Schauffele said this month that he’s not even sure where the medal is these days.
“It feels like the last time I saw it was on the podium,” he said. “My parents have it. They’re just showboating around. I have no idea where it is in all honesty. It’s in the house I grew up in.”
And where it might be in his childhood home in San Diego is even a mystery to Schauffele.
“I don’t know if there’s like a safe place now that I’ve moved out or anything like that, but I have no clue where it is right now,” he said.
Schauffele, ninth in the world rankings, knows he had possession of the gold medal at one point when he returned to Japan last October to play in the Zozo Championship.
“I had it in my backpack. I went through TSA, and I kind of put it in the back side of my bag that I travel with where my iPad goes,” he explained.
TSA flagged his backpack because of a circular item agents spotted.
“I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, sir, you can take my bag apart. I have no clue what this is on your screen,” Schauffele recalled. “He’s ripping through the bag, and then I was like, ‘Oh, dang it.’ ”
Schauffele said the agent looked at him and asked if it was real, and if it was his or someone else’s medal.
“I was like, man, I guess I need to keep playing good golf,” he said of being unknown to the agent. “That was probably my coolest encounter with it that wasn’t even kind of showing off with it.”
Southern Nevada PGA honors
Members of the local golf community will gather this week to recognize more than a dozen individuals as the 2021 Southern Nevada Chapter PGA honorees.
Ironically, one of the top individuals being recognized has left the state for a new job.
Mason Spalding will be honored as golf professional of the year. Spalding, who expected to spend six months at TPC Las Vegas when he arrived in 2008, instead was there for 13 years, the majority as head professional at the highly regarded layout.
Spalding left in January to work in merchandising and licensing at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Others to be honored Wednesday night include:
— Christopher Dolendo (TPC Summerlin), assistant professional of the year
— Matt Henderson (TPC Las Vegas), teacher of the year
— Mike Davis (Dragonridge CC), youth player development award
— Karl Larcom (Coyote Springs), Bill Strausbaugh award
— Michael Seiden (Callaway), professional development award
— Ryan Darland (Cascata), merchandiser of the year, public
— Scott Cowan (Wynn GC), merchandiser of the year, resort
— David Heavner (Dragonridge CC), merchandiser of the year, private
— Andrew Bednar (TravisMathew), sales rep of the year
— Jason Edmiston (PGA life member), player of the year
— Troy Helseth (Anthem CC), senior player of the year
Chip shots
— Painted Desert will hold a two-person scramble in honor of Masters week on April 3. Cost is $169 per team and includes golf, range balls, pimento cheese sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches and green jackets for the winners.
— James Bayliss beat Bill Keena 3 and 2 in the championship match at the Legacy men’s club’s match-play tournament. Tim Hartman and Bob Campbell played to a draw in the consolation match.
Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. He can be reached at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.