Of course, Xander Schauffele wanted to win an Olympic gold medal for himself. But he really, really wanted to win one for his dad, Stefan, whose own Olympic decathlon aspirations died when his car was struck by a drunk driver.
The mental-health movement has crossed over into the world of golf, with young star Matthew Wolff recently taking two months off from the PGA Tour to "try to enjoy myself and take care of myself". McIlroy himself has frequently cited his off-course happiness as a source of balance in his life.
Rules decree that players are simply not allowed to smile or show any emotion in their official headshots. As a result you get these, which could double as mugshots for some of these guys.
They're clearly trying to treat this as just another tournament, so as to avoid putting too much pressure on themselves and having that impact their play. But one needs only to look at their recent schedule to understand just how significant this tournament is.
From donning the Masters green jacket in April, an entire nation now awaits to see if Matsuyama, in all seriousness, can go on to deliver a gold medal for Japan.
