Xander Schauffele's gold medal defense got off to a promising start at the Paris Olympics, as his stellar 2024 PGA Tour form continued into the first round of the Men's Golf competition at Le Golf National.
Schauffele — who won the PGA Championship in April and the Open Championship in July — carded a 6-under 65 on Thursday, finishing two strokes back of Japan's Hideki Matsuyama (-8, 63).
The 30-year-old, who played with Spain's Jon Rahm (-4) and Norway's Viktor Hovland (-1), downplayed the crispness of his opening round. Unlike at Royal Troon, Schauffele was shaky with his putter on day one in Paris. He persisted through a “clanky” start with a chip-in birdie and shaky par save out of the gate.
“Chip-in on 1 was pretty lucky,” Schauffele said. “Skanked an iron out to the right. Then skanked another iron on 2 way right to the pin, was able to get up-and-down and pulled a drive on 3. So it wasn't sort of the dream, stripy start that you envision as a golfer. But I'm happy to sort of ride the ship in and get away with what could have been worse.”
For the round, the no. 2 player in the world produced seven birdies against one bogey (no. 17).
“Best thing was sort of getting over my sort of kind of clanky start,” he added. “I'd say just kind of riding the ship and using some old experience and calmness to get back on track and hit some better shots coming in. Other than that, it was just another day.”
Schauffele is one of four PGA Tour stars representing Team USA at the Summer Games. World No. 1 (and Schauffele's Player of the Year competition) Scottie Scheffler opened his Olympics with a 4-under 67.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Scheffler who drew inspiration from Simone Biles and Suni Lee. “As far as my golf today, I felt like I could have posted a better number but overall felt like I did a lot of really good things and hoping to continue that over the next few days.
“But then wearing the United States flag, having people chant ‘USA' and you're here in Europe, it's a fun feeling, and it was exciting to compete today.”
Collin Morikawa, who is looking to avenge his medal-less Tokyo performance, carded 1-under 70. Grouped with Matthieu Pavon and Great Britain's Matthew Fitzpatrick, Morikawa also shouted out the boisterous crowds at the venue, which previously hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup.
“It was awesome,” said Morikawa, . “Honestly I didn't know what to expect. First tee obviously having Matthieu Pavon there, a Frenchman, made it incredible.
“The first tee wasn't, I wouldn't say quite a Ryder Cup, but way more than a normal tournament for sure and way more than you would ever see an a Thursday. Hopefully we can bring some exciting golf. Didn't play great today but got out with 1-under.”
Wyndham Clark — who got the nod over 2024 U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau because the Olympics qualification criteria favors the Official World Golf Rankings, which doesn't recognize LIV Golf results — sits 59th of 60 players after struggling to a 4-over 75.
Elsewhere, Ireland's Rory McIlroy — paired with Scheffler and Sweden's Ludvig Aberg — shot a 3-under 68. LIV's Joaquin Niemann (Chile), Emiliano Grillo of Argentina, and South Korea's Tom Kim are T3 at 5-under.
“Unbelievable. It was surprising,” McIlroy said. “With so many events going on spread all across the city, for people to venture out here and to watch us play, it was a really cool atmosphere to play in.
“A golf tournament is — I try to sort of treat them all pretty similar. But the environment and the atmosphere was certainly a little more energetic than I was expecting, which is cool.”
Paris marks the third Games to feature golf since 1904. For now, the Olympics golf competition is simply comprised of one 72-hole, 60-person event without a cut or a team element. (The women compete Aug. 7-10 at Le Golf National.)
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