Xander Schauffele explains odd ant-hill rules situation that had him calling for a second opinion at Olympics

Nothing can stop the Xander Schauffele train right now. Not even a pile of ants.

On Friday at Le Golf National, the champion golfer of the year began his second round at the Olympics five under through the first 12 holes, surging to the top of the leader board in his quest for a second gold medal to go with the won he claimed at Tokyo in 2021. He finally slipped up at the par-4 13th, though, missing his drive left of the fairway and finding, as he referred to it, "the long stuff."

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As Schauffele went through his pre-shot routine, he noticed something strange behind his golf ball: ants. 

"I went down and saw a pile, so I called an official. It was just ants," Schauffele said. "It was a pile of ants, an ant pile, or whatever you want to call it, and their home; so I didn't want to mess with it. Couldn't take relief. It's a loose impediment."

Schauffele, who is no stranger to using the rules to his advantage, was not granted relief. Technically, he could have argued for relief under Rule 16.1, which grants players a free drop from Abnormal Course Conditions including Dangerous Animal Conditions. 

"Dangerous to some," he said. "I didn't feel too threatened by the ants. I don't think they have fire ants. I'm not too sure to be completely honest."

Still, Schauffele called for a second opinion as he wondered if he could use his club to scrape away the sand from behind the ball since it was loose. The original official on hand said that he could, but Schauffele wasn't so sure. 

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"My gut was like, 'oh, boy, am I really going to use my club, have it on film, and then talk to you guys after?'" he said. "I got a second opinion and the guys said I could not move the grass but use my tee to move the ants." 

After using his tee to move the sand, Schauffele ended up hacking it back out into the fairway anyway, his ball traveling about 30 yards. That led to one of just two bogeys on the day for Schauffele, who promptly birdied the next hole and wound up finishing with a five-under 66. He's at 11 under after 36 holes.