He’s taken Olympic gold and has set a world record. In 2020, he was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal, the Jerring Award and won over the hearts of the entire Swedish population. But as he tentatively walked up to the first tee none of that helped very much. Nothing felt fantastic. Because when you’ve got to hit your first shot off the first tee, your friends have negotiated away your day’s mulligan and there’s no chance of a second attempt and certainly not three… well that’s when the butterflies in your stomach really get to work.

Because nothing else makes Armand Duplantis quite so nervous.

“Going for gold at the Tokyo Olympics was nothing compared to this. Pole vaulting doesn’t make me nervous in that way. But that panic that can set in on the first tee, when you’re there with your friends and are going out for a round is like nothing else. And then someone suddenly says we won’t be getting our usual mulligan and then it gets even worse. But of course it’s because my confidence is so much lower when it comes to golf.”

But why? Compared to competing for the Olympic gold, surely a relaxed round of golf with your mates doesn’t seem so important?

“For me it’s important. For us it’s important.”

A new and enthusiastic golfer, with clear competitive instincts and little desire to lose, has just spoken.

It’s an absolutely gorgeous Monday in autumn at the Uppsala Golf Club, ten kilometres west of the city. The sky is blue, the air fresh and clear and the generous sunshine makes the dew in the dark green grass glisten like millions of diamonds. Looking at the tee time schedule, there are quite a few others taking the chance to use one more of their days off and the lovely golf course is busy.

In other words, it’s one of those days when it’s great to be a golfer.

If it were not for the fact that the day was so tightly scheduled, that is. Everyone wants a piece of Armand Duplantis after yet another fabulous season and time must be set aside for sponsors, collaborative partners and the media.

But suddenly he finds an opening that’s as unexpected as it is welcome, just before the interview with Dormy Magasin.

“So you mean we’re just going to talk? No video. No photographs. Does that mean we REALLY have to do it in the clubhouse?”

Not necessarily. Do you have any other ideas?

“Why don’t we grab a golf cart instead and play a few holes at the same time. That’ll be a lot more fun.”

So 15 minutes later, the 22-year-old is standing out in the woods to the right of the fairway on Upsala’s “Mellanbana” (Medium Course) looking for a gap between the pines and birches to get his ball back onto the fairway. All the while trying to find plausible explanations for how this insidious game has become his new passion in life.

“Of course 2020 was the year when most things were cancelled because of the pandemic and we couldn’t do much. But when I’m in the US I live in Louisiana and there were two golf courses there that were open, so some friends and I decided to try it out. And before we knew it we’d got started and were playing 4-5 times a week. We got completely hooked”, he says.

What did you like about it?

“There are many reasons. But as you know, it can be so difficult and challenging and at some points no fun at all, but then out of nowhere come those shots that make the entire round worthwhile. And then there was another reason for me. In 2020 I’d just set the world record and there was a lot of press around me going into the Olympics (which were later moved to 2021), with lots of people who wanted to talk to me and do features in the media. And for me it was great to find a place where I could just get away from everything. On the golf course, nothing else matters, except your next shot.”

The sixth hole on the Peter Nordwall-designed and technically interesting Mellanbanan is a par five which goes straight out and then doglegs strongly to the right. The best strategy from the tee is to try to position the ball around 220 metres from the yellow tee, and Armand Duplantis reaches that easily with a hybrid.

The set up is athletic and the swing too provocatively powerful and smooth to belong to someone who’s only played golf for a year and a half.

“Both I and the friends I play with hit the ball a long way. I think it’s because we played a lot of baseball together and that movement is quite similar to the golf swing. At the same time, we’re more or less equally unstable and pretty poor at the short game and putting”, admits Duplantis, while from his steep downward lie hits a spoon to reach the water-guarded green 240 metres away, thereby revealing that he hasn’t quite reached the chapter on playing strategy in his golf handbook.

On the narrow and relatively short course, the driver never makes it out of the bag today, but on the driving range – in front of Trackman’s scrutinising ball flight radar – the well-oiled swing is converted into hard figures and they tell a compelling story.

When Duplantis maxes out his drive, he reaches a swing speed of just over 122 mph, which can be compared to the average of 114.4 on the PGA tour, and with good contact, the ball rolls to stop around the 300 metre mark.

Which has impressed more than a few members of Upsala Golf Club, who stand behind him on the range declaring that “golf seems to be unjustly easy for some.”

A few months ago, Duplantis got the chance to tee up alongside Rickie Fowler, in relaxed circumstances in Los Angeles and afterwards Fowler praised the Swede:

“Mondo surprised me actually. I didn’t think he’d be as good as he was. His swing is raw and athletic and generates a lot of speed. With a little work there’s a chance he could become a solid player. Not tour level, but he could be really good.”

Duplantis has many memories of the round with Fowler, but highlights two of them.

“Rickie was so incredibly good that it was difficult to believe he’s not the best in the world. He shot 67 when we played without dropping a single putt, truly fantastic. But above all I remember sinking a 20-metre putt on the first hole for a birdie, so I loved walking up to the second tee saying ‘I believe it’s my turn to shoot first, Rickie.’”

Wondering what anOlympic gold medallist and world record holder in the pole vault can learn from his golf game, which is at a much more modest level, obviously feels a little strange.

Still, the question needs to be asked.

Armand Duplantis is standing on the seventh tee with an eight iron in his hand, and is quick to formulate his answer before sending off the ball toward the gigantic green. Because he’s thought about that himself.

“One thing that golf has actually taught me is the focus aspect. When you stand on the tee, you only have one shot, that’s all. In pole vaulting you always get three tries. Earlier in my career I always had the tendency to be able to find an extra gear on my third attempt and now I’m trying to do it on my very first one, as if I only had one go. Like in golf. In golf, every shot counts and I try to incorporate that into my pole vaulting, to make sure every jump counts”, he says.

But most of all, golf is a welcome escape from the hectic existence of the pole vaulting tour.

A few days earlier, he’d won the season finale of the Diamond League in Zürich and thereby added yet another major title to his CV. Now three weeks of lots of golf on his home course Håmö outside Upsala await, and one or two trips to neighbouring courses. Although “Mondo” has only been playing for 1.5 years, he’s already ticked of a number of the jewels in the crown of Swedish golf and teed up at courses such as Hills, Bro Hof and Falsterbo.

“When I played at Falsterbo the weather was really awful. There was heavy rain and strong winds, but it was a beautiful course that I really liked. And I don’t mind the rain. I’ll play anyway. You just need to look at the forecast to see what clothes to wear and then we set off.”

During the competitive season, however, it’s more difficult to get in the rounds of golf, even though the pole vaulting circus travels to many appealing places with attractive golf courses nearby.

“When we were going to compete at the Diamond League in Lausanne last summer I actually very nearly gave in to temptation and did something crazy.”

What happened?

“The day before the competition I was invited to play the pro am in conjunction with the European Tour in Crans Montana, 1.5 hours away. And I really thought about it because it seemed so cool, but in the end I declined. It would have been stupid, but since I jumped so badly anyway at the competition afterwards, I should have done it”, he says and laughs.

It’s a lot of fun talking to Armand Duplantis.

The interview is done in English, but with some parts in Swedish. He’s charming, has a glint in his eye and it’s obvious that at 22 years of age he hasn’t fallen victim to boredom and sloppiness when it comes to communicating with the media. He responds earnestly and enthusiastically, duffs a wedge and mutters a bit, before picking up the conversation where it was abruptly cut off in preparation for the shot.

It’s also obvious how his eyes light up from the joy of playing golf.

“Golf is fun for so many reasons. But my handicap isn’t important to me. I’m 13.7 now, but I often forget to register my rounds. The only thing that matters is that I want to beat the friends I play with. We started playing at more or less the same time, we’re the same standard and can compete on equal terms, so it’s fun”, says ‘Mondo’ and continues:

“I’d love to be a professional golfer, but do you know what I’m most jealous of them for?”

No, tell me.

“The senior tour. You can play golf your whole life and continue to compete as well. When I stop jumping, I stop jumping. I won’t be jumping four metres in a veterans tournament, that just sounds awful and painful.”

The round comes to an end, as does our conversation.

It’s time for the day’s second and last interview, with the fashion magazine Café.

Before I leave Upsala Golf Course, I hear Armand Duplantis convince the writer that the interview should take place out on the course.

And then the golf cart heads off again for another round.

Name:

Armand Gustav "Mondo" Duplantis.

Age:

22 years.

Lives in:

Kungsholmen in Stockholm and Lafayette in Louisiana.

Family:

Mother Helena, father Greg, brothers Andreas and Antoine, sister Johanna. Girlfriend Desiré.

Golf club:

Upsala Golf Club.

Handicap:

13.7

Merits:

Olympic gold 2020, European Championships gold 2018, World Championships silver 2019. Holds the world record with a jump of 6.18 in Glasgow 2020.