Stars surge up leaderboard on Day 1 of men’s Olympic Golf competition

Men’s main championships come round 4 occasions yearly, however the combat for an Olympic gold medal on the golf course solely occurs as soon as each 4 years.

After Round 1 at this Olympic Games, it appears followers shall be getting their cash’s price. With 18 holes full at Le Golf National, the leaderboard is full of some of the most important stars within the sport.

Hideki Matsuyama leads the best way at eight underneath. The former Masters champ was among the many first handful of gamers on the course throughout Round 1 and he took benefit of pristine scoring circumstances. His bogey-free spherical included eight birdies (5 on the entrance, three on the again) as he raced out to the 18-hole lead.

“Today’s result was good,” Matsuyama mentioned. “So I’ll take that as a positive.”

If he hopes to put on the gold round his neck come Sunday, although, he’ll have to carry off some of the perfect gamers within the sport. Chief amongst them? World No. 2 Xander Schauffele.

Schauffele arrived in Paris trying so as to add to his already-sparkling 2024 resume that features two main titles. And via 18 holes at Le Golf National, an Olympic medal is effectively inside his attain. The newly topped Champion Golfer of the Year carded seven birdies throughout his six-under 65 in Round 1, together with his lone blemish on the day coming on the par-4 seventeenth.

Lagging one other shot again are a pair of South Americans with Chile’s Joaquin Niemann and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo, each at 5 underneath. They’re joined by South Korea’s Tom Kim, who’s competing in his first Olympic Games as he appears to be like to medal and earn an exemption from his nation’s necessary navy service.

“It doesn’t worry me at all,” Kim mentioned of the stress of incomes a medal. “It’s not on my mind at all and I’m trying to focus on my game.”

Another shot again sits a logjam of opponents — 9, to be precise — who posted 4 underneath on the day. Among them are two-time main winner Jon Rahm and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

“I felt like I could have posted a better number,” Scheffler mentioned. “But overall felt like I did a lot of really good things and hoping to continue that over the next few days.”

If Scheffler — in addition to the opposite stars — are in a position to accomplish that mission, followers following the race to the rostrum are certain to be in for a deal with.