Friday's second round of the men's golf competition at the Paris Olympics is in the books. Once again, Xander Schauffele played extremely well and sits tied atop the lead at 11-under. But he has some company as Tommy Fleetwood made a big move to join him. First round leader Hideki Matsuyama posted a 3-under 68 Friday and is a part of that trio as well.
But lurking just behind them in the Olympics is Jon Rahm. The Spaniard posted an efficient 5-under Friday to sit two strokes back. He got hot with three straight birdies on the front nine. Following his lone bogey on the par-3 8th, Rahm played a clean round the rest of the way. He once again birdied three straight holes on 14, 15 and 16 to post a 66.
Afterward, Rahm detailed what went right on the course.
“Well, today, was how well I hit it off the tee. I missed one fairway only. And it's not a golf course that is long. So you're not going to have chances, right. And if you put it in the fairway for the most part, you are giving yourself short irons in,” said Rahm.
Le Golf National in Paris measures just over 7,300 yards. These days, golfers like Rahm can make folly of courses of that length, assuming they find fairways. Rahm did just that Friday and is pleased with where he sits.
“It's good to come back to a world stage and put myself in position. The Open I was there, but I wasn't quite close enough to have a chance on Sunday. Even though I ended up top 10, it was never really a reality of winning it.
“Today I put myself in position, and hopefully I can keep it going on the weekend.”
Tommy Fleetwood leaps to top of Olympics Golf leaderboard
Not only did Rahm make a move at the Olympics Friday, so too did Tommy Fleetwood.
The Englishman carded a 7-under 64 to climb his way atop the leaderboard. Fleetwood, despite having not won on the PGA Tour, certainly has the pedigree to compete at the highest level. He has won seven times on the European Tour, and a number of impressive finishes in majors.
Fleetwood finished second at the 2018 U.S. Open and the 2019 Open Championship. He finished T5 at the 2022 PGA Championship and tied for third earlier this year at the Masters.
The 33-year-old has the talent to win a gold medal at the Olympics. The question remains can he close?
Follow Us
Subscribe