Midway through the Olympic women’s competition, there’s an unexpected name atop the leaderboard at Le Golf National.
Morgane Metraux, a 27-year-old from Switzerland, will take a one-shot lead into Friday following a sizzling second round that included an Olympic-record 28 on the front nine.
Ruoning Yin, the 2023 Women’s PGA champion, is one shot behind, with Lydia Ko alone in third as she seeks a third consecutive medal.
Here’s what to watch for heading into Round 3:
How will Nelly Korda respond after late struggle?
Korda’s spirited charge up the leaderboard came to a screeching halt on the 16th hole when she made a stunning quadruple-bogey 7 on the 150-yard par 3. In cruise control for much of the day, she made an uncommitted swing off the tee that led to a water ball; plugged her third shot into the bunker after a terrible wedge; and then took three more shots from the back of the green. The frustration may have carried over an extra hole, too, when she found the rough on 17 and then three-putted for bogey.
But Korda navigated a sprinkler head with her long lag putt on the final green and made a closing birdie, helping take some sting out of a what-could-have-been round of 70.
“If I would have done this on the last day, then I would be extremely heartbroken,” she said. “But I still have 36 more holes and anything can happen. I’m trying to see the positive in this.”
Korda can also take inspiration from what happened during the men’s competition, when world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler carded a final-round 62, erasing a six-shot deficit on the final nine holes to win gold.
“If you’re hitting your shots then you’re staying present,” Korda said, “and I think anything can happen.”
SEE MORE: 2024 Olympic women’s golf Round 2 recap: Morgane Metraux leads as Nelly Korda collapses late
Can Ruoning Yin build off low round of the day?
Yin was warming up on the range when she saw Metraux’s torrid round go up on the scoreboard – 8 under for the day, and 10 under overall, as she played the back nine.
“I was talking to my coach: ‘How can someone shoot this low at this course?’” Yin said. “But I think it’s just her day.”
Then a funny thing happened: It was Yin who turned in a lower score in Round 2.
Yin carded the only bogey-free round of the week, a 7-under 65 that put her just a single shot back of Metraux, who couldn’t keep pace and made three bogeys late in her round of 66.
A three-time LPGA winner, Yin has been unconscious on the greens through two rounds, gaining more than seven-and-a-half strokes on the field. She’s doing so despite hitting 57% of the fairways and ranking in the bottom half of the field (36th) in strokes gained: approach.
“If I can put the ball on the fairway and hit my approach shot good,” she said, “that will leave myself a really good chance going to the last round.”
Yin is looking to join Shanshan Feng (bronze in 2016) as the only players from China to earn an Olympic medal in golf.
Can Lydia Ko put aside gold-medal distractions?
Aside from perhaps Mariajo Uribe, who has vowed to retire after the competition, no one has more on the line this week than Ko.
A gold medal would complete the Olympic slam, after she earned the silver and bronze medal in 2016 and 2020, respectively. But the top prize would also guarantee her the final point needed to gain entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame, a distinction that has weighed on her for the past few seasons.
“It’s really cool that if I did win the gold, I could get in the Hall of Fame and it would stop all these questions, like from you, in the future,” Ko said. “But if I feel like if it’s going to happen – whether it’s in Paris or in Florida or in Scotland – it’s going to happen. I’m just excited that I have this opportunity.”
A 28-time winner as a pro, Ko is – by far – the most experienced player in the final three-ball on Friday. She’s three shots behind Metraux.
Odds and ends looking ahead to Round 3
There are 15 players within four shots of third place. … Korda has made a field-high 10 birdies through two rounds despite ranking 46th out of 60 players in putting. … In her second Olympic appearance, Pia Babnik made six birdies in her final 10 holes (including five in a row on the back nine) to surge into a tie for fourth. … Long-hitting Bianca Pagdanganan is tied for sixth despite ranking 52nd in the field off the tee. … Charley Hull’s 10-shot improvement (81-71) was the biggest of the day on Thursday. Celine Boutier’s 11-shot backslide (65-76) was the largest in the other direction. … The 433-yard fourth hole surrendered just two birdies in the second round against 18 bogeys or worse. Overall, the scoring was about a stroke-and-a-half easier in the second round (72.7).
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