SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — Stephan Jaeger has a history of introducing himself with a score on his card rather than explaining his German roots, his subtle Tennessee accent and a path that eventually led him to Le Golf National for the Paris Olympics.
Xander Schauffele, fresh off winning the British Open, was playing the host course of the Games on Sunday when Jaeger’s name came up in conversation.
“I was there that week. Had no idea who he was,” Schauffele said.
Schauffele was referring to a Korn Ferry Tour event in 2016 called the Ellie Mae Classic. He opened with a career-best 62 and was feeling pretty good about his start until realizing some guy named Jaeger had shot 58 to set a tour record.
They played together the final round. Schauffele shot 65 and finished nine shots behind Jaeger, who set another Korn Ferry Tour record with a four-day total of 250.
Even more startling was the time Jaeger first arrived in America from Germany.
He was getting good enough at Golfclub München Eichenried that his parents used an agency to find an American high school for him. The options were the IMG Academy in Florida, the Stevenson School near Pebble Beach and Baylor School in Tennessee.
“I remember thinking, ‘I know California and Florida, but where the hell is Chattanooga?’” Jaeger said. “Coach King Oehmig sent us newspaper articles (about the team). I never visited, but it felt right. I said, ‘Let’s do it for a year. I’ll learn the language. We’ll see what happens with how far I go in golf.’ I thought I’d probably finish school and get a job.”
Talk about first impressions.
He flew in from Germany the day before Baylor — a team featuring Harris English and Keith Mitchell — had a high school match at The Honors Course, reputed to be the toughest in Tennessee. It’s where Tiger Woods shot 80 in the NCAA Championship and still won.
“Coach picked him up the night before,” English said. “He didn’t play a practice round or anything. He took him to Hardees to get a biscuit — he probably never had food like that — and brought him out to the course. He looked so European — long hair, a necklace, skinny pants. He had just gotten a yardage book and he says, ‘Is this book in yards or meters?’ And I was like, ‘Uh-oh, this guy has got no prayer.’”
“We had never seen him hit a shot. We didn’t even know how much English he spoke,” Mitchell said. “We all finished at the same time and they put 68 next to his name. Our head coach was about to faint.”
Jaeger learned enough to come back for his senior year, and then he stayed in his new American home to play for the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. He still lives there with his wife, Shelby, and their 1-year-old son, Fritz.
The golf part worked out well, even if it took some time to get to where he always wanted to be. Jaeger won six times in six years on the Korn Ferry Tour, winning the points list his final year.
The breakthrough came in March when Jaeger went head-to-head with Scottie Scheffler for a one-shot victory in the Houston Open. Scheffler was on a stretch of winning four times in five tournaments, including the Masters. The lone setback was to Jaeger.
“That just shows you all the setbacks on the mini-tours, Latin tour, Korn Ferry Tour, it validates you,” Jaeger said. “That feeling of being there, being in contention … that feeling is my drug.”
He moved into the top 50 in the world and played in all four majors for the first time. And now it’s the Olympics, a place he never imagined he would be when he rode in the cart and watched his parents play golf on vacation, his first introduction to the sport in Germany.
Ask him about the Olympics and his mind goes to Georg Hackl, who won gold in luge at three straight Winter Games. Jaeger is now taking part because of a decision to leave Germany for Chattanooga. That biscuit he had when he arrived, which he said nearly made him get back on the plane, is now a staple.
But he is thoroughly German, having previously represented his flag at the European Amateur Team Championship in Sweden and the World Cup (with Alex Cejka) in Australia. He speaks German to Fritz, not wanting his son to lose any of his heritage.
He would love nothing better than to hear the German national anthem play. He’s been gone from his homeland for nearly 20 years, but “when the music starts and everyone starts singing, I definitely know all the words.”
“And I do not know the American one,” he said with a laugh. “So there is more German than American in me.”
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