After a sensational front nine 28, Switzerland's Morgane Metraux shot a second round 66 to climb to the top of the leaderboard, whilst it was a disappointing day for home favourite Celine Boutier
Now into the second Olympic golf event, we saw what was capable from the men's event last week, so it came as no surprise that there were some low second rounds put together which saw players surge up the leaderboard.
Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux charged out of the gates on Thursday at Le Golf National, recording an Olympic nine-hole scoring record of 8-under-par 28. This was the first 28 to be recorded on nine holes in both the men’s and women’s Olympic golf competitions this year. The score was also two shots lower than Metraux’s career-low nine-hole score on the LPGA Tour. Unfortunately the run did not continue and the 27-year-old hung on through a bumpy two-over-par back nine to take the lead heading into the third round of the Olympic women’s golf competition.
Front nine 28 for Morgane Metraux
After starting her day with a birdie at the first, Metraux went on a tear, starting with an eagle at the par-5 third and then reeling off three straight birdies on holes four to six. She capped her front nine with her second eagle of the day, dropping a putt from 15 feet, 7 inches to turn in 28.
“The difference between yesterday and today at the beginning is just the putts that fell,” said Metraux, whose previous best nine-hole score had been a front-nine 30 that came during the first round of the 2023 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G. “It just brought me confidence going forward and just tried to stay as present as I could and one shot at a time. It went pretty well.”
The momentum slowed on the back with a bogey-birdie-bogey stretch over holes 13 through 15, and she found the water with her second shot while trying to go for the green in two on the par-5 18th to finish with a bogey.
Ruoning Yin shoots the round of the day
Metraux, winner of two Ladies European Tour titles, including the 2024 Jabra Ladies Open in Evian-les-Bains, France, holds a narrow one-shot lead over China’s Ruoning Yin, who carded the round of the day with a bogey-free, seven-under-par 65.
The 2023 KPMG Women's PGA Champion is still looking to improve: "Still the same strategy as yesterday but yesterday my approach shot was absolutely s**t, but today I hit a couple good shots but still for the tee shots, still hit a little off. I had a really good recovery on 10. Overall it was a pretty solid round."
Two-time Olympic medalist and defending bronze medalist Lydia Ko of New Zealand vaulted up the leaderboard, with a five-under-par 67, with just one blemish on 18. In search of a gold medal to complete her collection Ko is in a perfect spot heading into the final two rounds.
"You know what, I actually played really well yesterday. I think the pin positions were a little bit more difficult yesterday, and honestly going through some of the pins in the morning, I was a little stressed. But when I saw Celine shoot that 7-under, I thought she was playing a different golf course than me. But in ways it give me hope that I, too, could maybe shoot a score like that.
"Today I playing really solid and really put myself in that many awkward positions, and I think being consistent is really important around here, especially off the tee. A little bit of a sloppy finish, I would say, but other than that, if I don't think that I bogeyed the 18th hole and I said, oh, well, I bogeyed it on 8 or something, I would have probably been even happier.
"So it's like putting into perspective. But obviously nice to have a good round under my belt and be if a good position for the next two days."
Also posting a notable second round was Slovenia’s Pia Babnik, who carded a six-under-par 66 that featured a run of five straight birdies on holes 12 to 16. Babnik, who opened with a two-over-par 74 in Round 1, improved 26 spots on the leaderboard and currently sits in a tie for fourth with Colombian Mairajo Uribe who is competing in her final event as a professional.
Disappointing second round for Celine Boutier
It was a disappointing second round for first-round leader and Frenchwoman Celine Boutier, who opened with a seven-under-par 65 on Wednesday, struggled to a four-over-par 76, now tied for sixth place at three-under-par. She suffered a particularly rough stretch on the back nine, making double bogey at 13, bogey at 14 and double at 15.
"Emotionally it was fine. Definitely feel like I left a few shots out there. Had a rough patch in the back and didn't really make as many birdie putts as I did yesterday. So definitely reflected in the score."
There's still plenty of golf to play and after what we saw in the final round of the men's Olympic golf competition, Boutier is far from out of contention.
Nelly Korda looks to Scottie Scheffler for inspiration
Defending gold medalist Nelly Korda had eventful final stretch en route to her second-round 70, making birdie at 15, quadruple bogey at 16 after her tee shot ended in the water and her net shot plugged in the bunker, bogey at 17 and birdie at 18.
There is no doubt that only six-shots back and two rounds to play, the American is going to give it her all:
"I'm going to try. I'm going to always try my hardest, If I'm hitting it well off the tee which I was today and I was hitting good shots in and I was giving myself opportunities, yes. If I'm hitting it bad, then no, it's tough to do that out here. It's all about, you know, if I can get my whole game together for the next two days, and if I would have done this on the last day or let's say the third day, then I would be extremely hard broken.
"But I still have 36 more holes and anything can happen. I'm trying to see the positive in this. You know, Scottie came back, shot nine-under and he won. So you know, if you're hitting your shots, then you're staying present, and I think anything can happen."
The third round gets underway at 9am local time on Friday. You can view the full women's Olympic golf competition leaderboard and tee times here.
