PLAYER BLOG

Xander Schauffele, the World No. 6, will make his fifth straight appearance at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan this week with every intention of completing a famous double’ where he also won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. With a strong family presence in Japan, the 29-year-old is looking forward to challenging for his eighth career PGA TOUR victory at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club.

-  Xander Schauffele

I love Japan and I love being here. I've been coming over here a lot over the years and my grandparents live in Tokyo and I have uncles, aunts and cousins from my mum's side of the family living here as well. I've made a lot of visits and I've always enjoyed the culture, the people and the food. The people are so proud here, they have a lot of pride, and I respect that a lot. It's a very special place which I hold very dear to myself and my whole family. I pretty much love everything about Japan and I'm always happy to come back.

You know when you open a suitcase, you can always kind of smell sort of where you come from. I can always tell whenever my grandparents used to travel to San Diego a long time ago to visit us when I was a kid, it always smelled like Japan. I really don't know how to describe it but every time I come over here, I really appreciate the culture and how kind and respectful everyone is and I think I speak for everyone competing in this week's ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP.