KAWAGOE, Japan—Xander Schauffele is an American golfer with a German surname and grandparents in Tokyo.

And now the strands of his unusual family history have merged into one career-defining moment: an Olympic gold medal in Japan.

“I know my dad really wanted this one,” Schauffele said afterward. .

“When I see him on the podium,” Stefan Schauffele said just off the 18th green, “I’m choking up thinking about it,” .

After entering the final round with a lead, extending it, and then giving it up, he rallied over the final two holes to clinch a gold medal for the U.S and edge out Slovakia’s silver medalist Rory Sabbatini before Chinese Taipei’s C.T.