Olympic Men’s Golf Competition R4

2020 Olympics – Men’s R4
July 29 – August 01
Kasumigaseki CC, Saitama, Japan
Round 1, Round 2, Round 3

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

American Xander Schauffele fought off fierce competition to with the gold medal with a final round 67 at Kasumigaseki Country Club.

He started the day with a one shot lead and made a good start with back-to-back birdies on the first two holes then made two more to make the turn in 32. A bogey at the par-5 14th lost him the lead before he took it back with a birdie at the 17th then closed with a par at the 18th to finish at 18-under.

^{2020 Olympics – Men’s R4}

“Man, it feels good. It really is a special deal, standing on the podium with these two boys, with our flags being raised, the ceremony. I think people talk about why the Olympics are such a special thing to them and we’re fortunate enough to be a part of a ceremony and I think we can all see why people say that.”

Schauffele’s father and swing coach had his own Olympic ambitions as a decathlete crushed by a car accident and he was glad to be able to share the moment.

“My dad put all his eggs in one basket for quite some time, just like I did for golf, to compete as a decathlete in the Olympics. And life came at him fast, it was swiped away from him, but he saw potential in me to become a good golfer and so he sort of put all his eggs in my basket. For this to come full circle at a pretty young age I just feel very fortunate and just really happy to share this with him. This whole experience has been really, really special and to have him here is even better.”

^{2020 Olympics – Men’s R4}

Slovakian Rory Sabbatini started the day in T17 at 7-under but took silver with a record-breaking round of 61 comprising of ten birdies, an eagle at the par-4 6th and two bogeys

South African-born Sabbatini, who took Slovakian citizenship through his wife in 2018, is hoping his success will raise golf’s profile in his adopted country.

^{2020 Olympics – Men’s R4}

“Golf in Slovakia is not a big sport in regards to ice hockey, and you got so many different other sports that are bigger sports. So we looked at it as a way to try and create some interest.”

“For me to be here today is very fortuitous. I’m just thankful to be here. But it’s been such a prideful moment to be up there to represent Slovakia and to see the flag raised. Words really cannot express it. So it’s just been a fantastic experience all around for the entire Olympics and I’m just very thankful.”

^{2020 Olympics – Men’s R4}

Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan (63), American Collin Morikawa (63), Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (67), Chilean Mito Pereira (67), Colombian Sebastián Muñoz (67), Great Britain’s Paul Casey (68) and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (69) finished tied at 15-under leading to a playoff for the bronze medal.

Casey and Matsuyama dropped out after the first extra hole, followed by McIlroy, Muñoz and Pereira after the third extra hole.

Morikawa failed to convert his putt at the fourth extra hole while Pan sank his par putt.

“Very satisfying. It came as a surprise to me too. After day one, +3, 74, I remember I texted one of my good friends and I was like, the struggle is real. So, it’s quite a turnaround for this week winning the bronze medal that I couldn’t even think about it, didn’t even think about it after Thursday’s round. So overall that was a very happy ending.”

2020 Olympics – Men’s R4

Playoff for Bronze medal
Player		1st extra hole	2nd extra hole	3rd extra hole	4th extra hole
	Hole	18	10	11	18
	Par	4	3	4	4
C.T. Pan		4	3	3	4
Collin Morikawa		4	3	3	5
Rory McIlroy		4	3	4	–
Mito Pereira		4	3	4	–
Sebastián Muñoz		4	3	5	–
Paul Casey		5	–	–	–
Hideki Matsuyama		5	–	–	–

Pos.	Player	To Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Xander Schauffele	-18	68	63	68	67	266
2	Rory Sabbatini	-17	69	67	70	61	267
2	C.T. Pan	-15	74	66	66	63	269
3	Collin Morikawa	-15	69	70	67	63	269
T4	Rory McIlroy	-15	69	66	67	67	269
T4	Mito Pereira	-15	69	65	68	67	269
T4	Sebastián Muñoz	-15	67	69	66	67	269
T4	Paul Casey	-15	67	68	66	68	269
T4	Hideki Matsuyama	-15	69	64	67	69	269
T10	Joaquin Niemann	-14	70	69	66	65	270
T10	Cameron Smith	-14	71	67	66	66	270
T10	Sepp Straka	-14	63	71	68	68	270
13	Corey Conners	-13	69	71	66	65	271
T14	Viktor Hovland	-12	68	69	71	64	272
T14	Abraham Ancer	-12	69	69	66	68	272
T16	Jhonattan Vegas	-11	66	70	70	67	273
T16	Alex Noren	-11	67	67	72	67	273
T16	Scott Vincent	-11	73	67	66	67	273
T16	Christiaan Bezuidenhout	-11	68	70	68	67	273
T16	Thomas Pieters	-11	65	76	64	68	273
T16	Tommy Fleetwood	-11	70	69	64	70	273
T22	Justin Thomas	-10	71	70	68	65	274
T22	Patrick Reed	-10	68	71	70	65	274
T22	Sungjae Im	-10	70	73	63	68	274
T22	Thomas Detry	-10	70	67	68	69	274
T22	Shane Lowry	-10	70	65	68	71	274
T27	Matthias Schwab	-9	69	69	70	67	275
T27	Renato Paratore	-9	71	70	67	67	275
T27	Jazz Janewattananond	-9	64	71	72	68	275
T27	Sami Valimaki	-9	70	70	68	67	275
T27	Joachim B Hansen	-9	66	73	67	69	275
T32	Ashun Wu	-8	72	71	67	66	276
T32	Si Woo Kim	-8	68	71	70	67	276
T32	Guido Migliozzi	-8	71	65	68	72	276
T35	Hurly Long	-7	70	70	70	67	277
T35	Romain Langasque	-7	69	70	69	69	277
T35	Fabrizio Zanotti	-7	73	67	68	69	277
T38	Rikuya Hoshino	-6	71	68	73	66	278
T38	Adri Arnaus	-6	68	69	74	67	278
T38	Yechun Yuan	-6	69	68	70	71	278
T38	Rasmus Hojgaard	-6	73	68	66	71	278
T42	Ryan Fox	-5	70	72	73	64	279
T42	Anirban Lahiri	-5	67	72	68	72	279
T42	Carlos Ortiz	-5	65	67	69	78	279
T45	Gunn Charoenkul	-4	71	71	71	67	280
T45	Kalle Samooja	-4	75	68	70	67	280
T45	Henrik Norlander	-4	68	73	72	67	280
T45	Antoine Rozner	-4	68	69	73	70	280
T45	Maximilian Kieffer	-4	73	69	67	71	280
50	Mackenzie Hughes	-3	69	72	65	75	281
T51	Marc Leishman	-2	70	71	72	69	282
T51	Adrian Meronk	-2	72	71	69	70	282
T53	Kristian K. Johannessen	E	72	70	71	71	284
T53	Garrick Higgo	E	71	71	70	72	284
55	Juvic Pagunsan	+1	66	73	76	70	285
56	Udayan Mane	+3	76	69	70	72	287
T57	Rafael Campos	+4	73	73	70	72	288
T57	Gavin Kyle Green	+4	74	72	70	72	288
59	Jorge Campillo	+5	70	75	69	75	289
60	Ondrej Lieser	+10	72	77	73	72	294