Xander Schauffele and his caddie, Austin Kaiser, within the second spherical of the Olympic Golf occasion.
getty photographs
After a second-round 66 that propelled Xander Schauffele to the highest of the Olympic leaderboard Friday, he was requested how his day went.
“A little bit of everything,” he mentioned.
Nine pars, seven birdies, two bogeys, various glorious pictures but in addition some sloppy ones.
Oh, and one ant hill.
Or an “ant pile,” as Schauffele referred to the colony of Formicidae that abutted his ball within the tough left of Le Golf National’s thirteenth fairway. Schauffele mentioned he made this unlikely discovery as he was assessing his lie and taking observe swings within the “fluffy grass.”
“I’m trying to get to my ball and I can’t even — what’s going on? Something is behind my ball,” he mentioned. “I went down and saw a pile, so I called an official. It was just ants. It was a pile of ants, an ant pile, or whatever you want to call it, and their home. I didn’t want to mess with it. Couldn’t take relief. It’s a loose impediment.”
A reporter requested Schaufelle if the ants might need been thought of a harmful animal, which might have permitted him aid beneath Rule 16.2.
“Dangerous to some,” Schaufelle replied, seemingly referencing the incident on the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Classic when Bryson DeChambeau famously lobbied for aid from what he claimed was a congregation of fireside ants. “I didn’t feel too threatened by the ants. I don’t think they have fire ants. I’m not too sure to be completely honest.”
For what it’s value, France does have hearth ants; according to reports, they had been first detected within the South of France in 2022 nevertheless it’s unclear in the event that they’ve made their method to the better Paris area. Whatever the case, Schauffele wasn’t about to make a careless guidelines gaffe to skirt the tiny creatures. When an official in Schauffele’s group informed him he may use his membership to scrape away the sand behind his ball, Schauffele was doubtful, so he referred to as for a second official to weigh in.
“My gut was like, ‘Oh, boy, am I really going to use my club, have it on film, and then talk to you guys after?’” he mentioned. “I got a second opinion, and the guys said I could not move the grass but use my tee to move the ants.”
Flummoxed, Schaufelle determined to play it protected.
“I didn’t do anything, to be honest,” he mentioned. “I ended up hacking out 50 yards on the fairway. That’s all I’ve got for you.”
That hack left Schaufelle 125 yards to the opening from the place he was unable to stand up and down, resulting in his second of two bogeys on the day. Undaunted, he birdied the following gap to get again to 5 beneath for the spherical and 11 beneath for the event, which has him tied for first with Hideki Matsuyama and Tommy Fleetwood.
Schauffele has by no means been one to make mountains out of mole hills but when he had been to lose by one this week, he would possibly really feel some anguish over an ant hill.
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