KAWAGOE, Japan -- For the past few years, Xander Schauffele has been pro golf's next big thing, which is a designation that's usually -- and ideally -- temporary.
But his ascent had been stuck in neutral. He has been playing very well, but not great. A bevy of top-10 finishes in majors, but an unsatisfying trend of coming up short on Sundays. The unpleasant reality was that when he flew to Japan last week for the Olympic Games, he hadn't won in more than two years.
It was hard not to consider this when Schauffele was wandering into a thicket on the edge of Kasumigaseki Country Club to retrieve his ball on the 14th hole in the final round of the Olympic golf tournament.