Olympic Men’s Golf Competition R1

2020 Olympics – Men’s R1
July 29 – August 01
Kasumigaseki CC, Saitama, Japan
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Austrian Sepp Straka fired a bogey-free 63 to take a slim opening lead in Japan at Kasumigaseki Country Club.

2020 Olympics – Men’s R1

“When they had them (Rio 2016) in Brazil I was watching, I wasn’t close to qualifying back then but I was watching and it seemed like a cool event,” said Straka.

“Everybody that I knew that went over there and played just raved about it. So, I knew at that point that that this was going to be on my radar and definitely wanted to play well so I could play my way in.”

2020 Olympics – Men’s R1

He leads Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, who also remained bogey-free, by one shot.

Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz and Belgium’s Thomas Pieters are tied in third place at 6-under. Ortiz’ round was marred by a single bogey at the par-4 9th while Pieters made no bogeys but eagled the par-4 11th.

2020 Olympics – Men’s R1

“This morning, when you get to the course and you realise this is like once every four years, it hits you. So yeah, I was really looking forward to teeing off,” said Pieters.

“Being from a small country – we have got two medals up to now – you just want to get one more for your country. I mean (winning a medal) is like legendary status back home. I just want to get a medal, it would be lovely, but there is a long way to go.”

2020 Olympics – Men’s R1

Paul Casey is the highest ranked British player having produced four birdies to close with a 67.

“Not an ounce of nerves (teeing off), a hundred percent excitement. Just really proud, to be honest. I think that’s he coolest thing because I thought about it for so long, to me you can’t class yourself an Olympian until you’ve actually started your competition,” said Casey.

“You feel being around the Team GB building everybody watches and is aware of what is going on in every single sport. You walk into it and there are multiple TVs on and I can’t keep track of it. Gold medal here and we got a bronze there, I mean, it’s amazing. I feel that there’s an immense sense of responsibility so I’ve got to try and deliver as much as I can. Team GB don’t put pressure on you, but you feel that with the other athletes because everybody else is performing so brilliantly, I want to perform and live up to their expectations as well.”

2020 Olympics – Men’s R1

Pos.	Player	To Par	R1
1	Sepp Straka	-8	63
2	Jazz Janewattananond	-7	64
T3	Carlos Ortiz	-6	65
T3	Thomas Pieters	-6	65
T5	Joachim B. Hansen	-5	66
T5	Juvic Pagunsan	-5	66
T5	Jhonattan Vegas	-5	66
T8	Paul Casey	-4	67
T8	Anirban Lahiri	-4	67
T8	Sebastián Muñoz	-4	67
T8	Alex Noren	-4	67
T12	Adri Arnaus	-3	68
T12	Christiaan Bezuidenhout	-3	68
T12	Viktor Hovland	-3	68
T12	Si Woo Kim	-3	68
T12	Henrik Norlander	-3	68
T12	Patrick Reed	-3	68
T12	Antoine Rozner	-3	68
T12	Xander Schauffele	-3	68
T20	Abraham Ancer	-2	69
T20	Corey Conners	-2	69
T20	Mackenzie Hughes	-2	69
T20	Romain Langasque	-2	69
T20	Hideki Matsuyama	-2	69
T20	Rory McIlroy	-2	69
T20	Collin Morikawa	-2	69
T20	Mito Pereira	-2	69
T20	Rory Sabbatini	-2	69
T20	Matthias Schwab	-2	69
T20	Yechun Yuan	-2	69
T31	Jorge Campillo	-1	70
T31	Thomas Detry	-1	70
T31	Tommy Fleetwood	-1	70
T31	Ryan Fox	-1	70
T31	Sungjae Im	-1	70
T31	Marc Leishman	-1	70
T31	Hurly Long	-1	70
T31	Shane Lowry	-1	70
T31	Joaquin Niemann	-1	70
T31	Sami Valimaki	-1	70
T41	Gunn Charoenkul	E	71
T41	Garrick Higgo	E	71
T41	Rikuya Hoshino	E	71
T41	Guido Migliozzi	E	71
T41	Renato Paratore	E	71
T41	Cameron Smith	E	71
T41	Justin Thomas	E	71
T48	Kristian K. Johannessen	+1	72
T48	Ondrej Lieser	+1	72
T48	Adrian Meronk	+1	72
T48	Ashun Wu	+1	72
T52	Rafael Campos	+2	73
T52	Rasmus Højgaard	+2	73
T52	Maximilian Kieffer	+2	73
T52	Scott Vincent	+2	73
T52	Fabrizio Zanotti	+2	73
T57	Gavin Kyle Green	+3	74
T57	C.T. Pan	+3	74
59	Kalle Samooja	+4	75
60	Udayan Mane	+5	76