Le Golf National presents a treacherous closing stretch for those in contention. Hideki Matsuyama found that out the hard way Friday at the Olympics.
Ahead by a shot in the late stages of the second round, the 32-year-old from Japan blew his drive wide right on the home hole, his ball nestling into a horrible lie in tall fescue. Matsuyama wasn’t able to reach the fairway with his hack-out, then he came up short with his third shot from the rough and found the water.
Matsuyama needed to sink a 10-footer just to salvage a double bogey, spoiling what had been an otherwise stellar second round. But the late miscues in his 68 dropped him back into a three-way tie for the lead with Xander Schauffele (USA) and Tommy Fleetwood (GBR).
Playing in the same group as Matsuyama, Fleetwood also bogeyed the closing hole in his round of 64. Schauffele, a two-time major winner this season, remained in prime position to defend his gold medal after a Friday 66.
Schauffele also held the halfway lead when he went on to win at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Those three players are two shots ahead of Jon Rahm (ESP), who moved up with the board with a 66. Scottie Scheffler (USA) came home in 31 to sit in a tie for 10th, five shots off the lead, while Rory McIlroy (IRE) is a shot further back after going birdie-double bogey-birdie to finish off his 69.
Top 10: Olympic men’s golf leaderboard, Rd. 2
T-1. Xander Schauffele (USA): -11 (66)
T-1. Hideki Matsuyama (JPN): -11 (68)
T-1. Tommy Fleetwood (GBR): -11 (64)
4. Jon Rahm (ESP): -9 (66)
T-5. Thomas Detry (BEL): -8 (63)
T-5: C.T. Pan (TPE): -8 (65)
T-5. Tom Kim (KOR): -8 (68)
T-8. Stephan Jaeger (GER): -7 (64)
T-8. Guido Migliozzi (ITA): -7 (67)
T-10. Erik van Rooyen (RSA): -6 (69)
T-10. Joaquin Niemann (CHI): -6 (70)
T-10. Scottie Scheffler (USA): -6 (69)
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