During the holidays, Xander Schauffele gave caddie Austin Kaiser five golden rings. Well, those five golden rings were the insignia of the Olympic Games and they were etched in one golden ring. Pretty cool, nonetheless.
After Schauffele won the Olympic gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in August, he, and especially his father, took turns wearing and showing off the gold medal in boss fashion.
Caddies, however, do not receive any reward for their service at the Olympics – other than the flag at 18 – so, Schauffele took it upon himself to recognize the contributions of caddie Kaiser, his former San Diego State University teammate who has been on his bag since Schauffele turned pro.
Just in time for the holidays, Schauffele presented his loyal sidekick a custom-made gold ring inscribed with “Tokyo” on the outer right side and a U.S. flag above the Olympic rings in the center, and the words United States at top and Olympic Team at the bottom. Kaiser proudly displayed it in an Instagram post last week with the caption: “Since I didn’t receive a gold medal for the Olympics, the Schauffele family gifted me this…”
“It was actually a really long delay. My family and I were happy to deliver it to him sort of just in time. All the guys out here, some guys were giving me some, heckling me a little bit about not giving him anything or anything like that,” Schauffele said. “We ordered it such a long time ago so I tried to, I had to, I got a big mouth sometimes, so I had to keep my mouth shut on his gift just so it would be really special. It was cool. I have that medal to carry with me and now he has that ring as a piece of memorabilia, so he can always cherish that.”
Schauffele is scheduled to tee off Thursday in the opening round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, site of his most recent official victory in 2019. If not for his gold-medal heroics he wouldn’t have been eligible for the winners-only tournament.
“I feel extra fortunate this year. The Olympics wasn’t on the list and the Tour was nice enough to sort of put it on the list with the help of some players lobbying for me,” he said. “So it’s nice they recognize the Olympic gold medal as a winner and here I am.”
“It wasn’t my most decorated year,” Schauffele added, “but I think 2021 will always be the Tokyo Olympics, so I have that to carry with me.”
And now Kaiser has something shiny and gold to wear too.