Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama held on to his position atop the leaderboard in spite of a double bogey at the final hole after round two of the Olympic men’s golf competition at Le Golf National. Joining him at 11-under are Team USA’s Xander Schauffele and Team GB’s Tommy Fleetwood.
Matsuyama, who opened with an 8-under 63, followed up Friday with a 3-under 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 the 10th and 11th followed by a string of pars before notching two more birdies at the 16th and 17th.
But an errant tee shot on the par-4 18th put the current world No. 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 6.
World No. 14 Fleetwood added a 64 tp his opening 67 and flirted with the course record during his second round, getting it to 8-under 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.
“I haven’t felt particularly comfortable with my swing all week,” said the Englishman. “But I’ve been doing the things that I know are right and I’ve put the ball in play a lot and I’ve been doing the right things, and I think gradually as you keep hitting enough good shots, obviously you confidence build and you keep drawing on those feelings. It’s coming. It’s closer and I hit some beautiful iron shots and I think I definitely had a good sort of idea of what I was doing with the golf ball throughout the day, and especially today, I think like when I had to get up-and-down, or I had to make a par save, I did it, and when you have rounds like today, obviously 7-under is a really good one, you have to make those as well.
“‘I’ve played it enough to understand sort of how the golf course plays. It’s an amazing tee shot and approach shot golf course. I feel comfortable with the decisions I make off the tee. You still have to step up and hit a golf shot but I feel comfortable with how the course plays and the game plan and that. So that’s one thing. But like I say, you still have to step up and hit the golf shots. I’ve done that good so far and I’ll try and just keep doing that.”
Defending gold medalist and World No. 2 Schauffele started the day one stroke off the lead and dropped a shot early with a bogey at the second, he turned things around with a stretch of three straight birdies from the 3rd and added three more from the 9th. He recovered from a bogey on 14 with a birdie at 15 and finished with four straight pars for a 65.
” Five under is a good score on this property,” said the Open champion. “Overall, sitting in a good spot coming into the weekend.
“When you’re in good form, all of us know that it’s all about just making the correct decision and executing the shot and rinse and repeating that process. So don’t let too much try and bother you, and if you do hit bad shots, it’s easier to accept it because you know you’re playing really good golf and you can make it up somewhere else.”
Belgium’s Thomas Detry, who opened with an even-par 71, carded the round of the day with a bogey-free, 8-under 63 – one off the course record and two off the Olympic record. He stands T5 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.
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