Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama and Tommy Fleetwood lead the men’s Olympic golf after the second round at Le Golf National
Report by International Golf Federation
Despite a double bogey at the final hole on Friday, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama managed to maintain his position atop the leaderboard after round two of the Paris Olympic men’s golf competition at Le Golf National. Joining him at 11-under-par are Team USA’s Xander Schauffele and Team Great Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood.
Matsuyama, who opened with an eight-under-par 63, followed up Friday with a three-under-par 68 that featured an up-and-down front nine with three birdies and two bogeys. He seemed to be shifting momentum in the right direction on the back nine, making back-to-back birdies on 10 and 11 followed by a string of pars before notching two more birdies on 16 and 17.
But an errant tee shot on the par-4 18th put the current world number 12 well right of the fairway, and his second shot off the mounds went just 66 yards and didn’t make it past the first cut of rough. He dumped his third shot in the water in front of the green and after taking a drop, Matsuyama hit it to 12 feet and made the putt for a six.
World number 14 Fleetwood (67-64) flirted with the course record during his second round, getting it to eight-under-par on the day through 17 holes before finishing with his lone bogey of the day at the last. His round was highlighted by an eagle at the par-5 third, where he drained a putt from 46 feet, 9 inches.
After starting the day one shot off the lead, defending gold medalist and World number two Schauffele (65-66) dropped a shot early with a bogey at the second, but then turned things around with a stretch of three straight birdies on holes three to five and added three more on nine to 11. He recovered from a bogey on 14 with a birdie at 15 and finished with four straight pars.
Belgium’s Thomas Detry, who opened with an even-par 71, carded the round of the day with a bogey-free, eight-under-par 63 – one off the course record and two off the Olympic record. He stands tied fifth with Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan (69-65), the defending bronze medalist, and Korea’s Tom Kim (66-68). Spain’s Jon Rahm (67-66) sits in solo fourth.
View the full Paris 2024 men's Olympic Golf competition leaderboard here.
