Xander Schauffele says golfers are "just a bunch of losers"

Xander Schauffele told reporters that golfers are "just a bunch of losers" in response to an NBA player's viral video on failure.

Lara Kuipers

03 May 2023

The PGA Tour's Xander Schauffele has said golfers are "just a bunch of losers" on Tuesday in response to a question about NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo's recent viral video on failure.

The Bucks, the team that Antetokounmpo plays for, were the No. 1 seed in the eastern conference of the 2022-23 NBA season, but were upset by the No. 8 seeded Miami Heat 4-1 in the first round series.

Following their loss and early exit from the post-season, Antetokounmpo shared a thoughtful answer in regards to whether or not he saw the season as a failure.

But despite their early exit, he didn't.

You can watch the full clip here:

“Michael Jordan played 15 years, won 6 championships. The other 9 years were a failure?"
Giannis on the Bucks 2022-2023 season pic.twitter.com/0l69MKazCF
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 27, 2023

And a week later, it appears as though his inspirational comments have found their way onto the PGA Tour as players get set for the Wells Fargo Championship this week.

When asked about what he thought about the NBA star's comments, recent Mexico Open winner Tony Finau said:

"In sports, we know sports is about winning, but you either win or you learn. It's hard to say that you fail specially at the level we're playing at. Just anybody in general, when you're trying to accomplish something, if you're always looking at yourself or something as a failure, it will be hard for you to succeed.

"I couldn't agree with Giannis more. I'm a huge fan of his and I think he's so great for sports, so great for the NBA. He brings a sense of humility. I think someone in his position, it's important for our youth to see that type of humility from a superstar athlete like he is. I mean, he's a mega-star, he's arguably the greatest player in the NBA year after year. He's consistently shown that he is that guy. So to show that type of humility and that example is pretty cool."

Xander Schauffele also told reporters that he had seen the clip and shared his thoughts on it:

"Yeah, I did see what he said. I thought it was a very cool perspective. He's an all-star and he's very humble in his approach. I've heard a lot of cool stories about his rise and how he takes care of his family and how he pretty much had nothing. It's no surprise that he sort of has that outlook.

"It's definitely a really cool one if you apply it to golf because we are just a bunch of losers at the end of the day with the highest winning percentage player being at like 14 percent or 15 percent, whoever, Tiger, whoever it was in sort of the modern day era is the winning percentage.

"Yeah, it's all about perspective at the end of the day and he gave a really cool outlook into how he sees sports."

Max Homa, this week's defending champion at the Wells Fargo Championship, was another PGA Tour star who took interest in the clip.

"I found it quite interesting that someone as great as Giannis said that because it puts things into perspective. It's very difficult to win a championship in anything. He's a tremendous basketball player and to hear him feel kind of similarly looking at it in the macro, he didn't fail to him, I would assume, because he felt like he put in a lot of work that will help them the next year and him personally.

"But if he doesn't feel like he failed, then he didn't fail. I think that's the important part for everybody, whatever you're trying to do, so I thought it was great that he said that."

All three of Finau, Schauffele, and Homa are ranked inside the top-15 in the world and are in North Carolina for the tournament this week as the PGA Tour takes on another lucrative designated event.

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