Scheffler’s Latest Comeback Leads to Gold on the Greens in Paris

Ex-HP standout triumphs in Olympic debut; Fink brings home 3 swimming medals

Among the many high-profile victories in Scottie Scheffler’s professional golf career, perhaps none has been as emotional as winning an Olympic gold medal in Paris.

The former Highland Park standout closed with a sensational 9-under-par 62 in the final round on Aug. 4 to defeat Great Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood by one stroke.

With his wife, Meredith, and infant son, Bennett, there to cheer him on, Scheffler was tearing up during the medal ceremony afterward.

“I take tremendous pride in coming over here and representing my country,” Scheffler said in the post-tournament press conference. “It was just very emotional being up there on stage there as the flag is being raised and sitting there singing the national anthem. That’s definitely one I’ll remember for a long time.”

The emotions were not out of character for Scheffler, who was making his Olympics debut in the four-round event at Le Golf National and contributed to a massive medal haul for Team USA across all sports.

“Typically, I’m fairly emotional as it is. I think with this tournament, there wasn’t much time in between winning, and then you kind of just get ushered through everything,” he said. “I remember after the Masters this year, I took a bathroom break but really I just wanted to be by myself for a minute. I cried pretty good after that one.”

Scheffler’s 62 tied for the low round in the tournament with Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard, who carded the same score during the third round on Saturday but finished seventh.

It was the seventh victory this year for Scheffler, including his second Masters crown in April and five other PGA Tour wins.

Also at the Olympics, swimmer Nic Fink brought home three medals, highlighted by an individual silver in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke, where he tied with world-record holder Adam Peaty of Great Britain. Their identical time of 59.05 seconds finished behind Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi.

Fink, 31, recently moved to Dallas and trains at SMU, where his wife, former Olympic gold medalist Melanie Margalis, is an assistant coach.

He also earned two relay medals in Paris — gold in the 4×100 mixed medley relay, and silver in the men’s 4×100 medley relay.