Despite suffering a costly double bogey on the final hole on Friday, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama managed to maintain his position at the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the men’s Olympic golf tournament at Le Golf National.
But he has company in the form of two-time major champions Xander Schauffele and Team GB’s Tommy Fleetwood.
Matsuyama, who opened with an 8-under 63, followed Friday with a 68 that featured an up-and-down front nine with three birdies and two bogeys. He seemed to shift the momentum in the right direction after the back nine, making back-to-back birdies on the 10th and 11th followed by a series of pars before notching two more birdies on the 16th and 17th.
But a foul shot on the par-4 18th put the current world No. 12 to the right of the fairway, and his second shot from the dunes traveled just 66 yards and didn’t pass the fairway. He hit his third shot into the water in front of the green and after taking a drop, Matsuyama hit it to 12 feet and made a 6-putt.
FLEETWOOD FLIES WITH THE THIRD EAGLE
Fleetwood flirted with the course record with his second-round 64, reaching 8-under for the day through 17 holes before finishing with his bogey at the last. His round was highlighted by an eagle on the 5th, where he holed a putt from 46 feet.
After starting the day off the lead, defending gold medalist Schauffele dropped the shot early with a bogey at the second, but then turned things around with a stretch of three straight birdies on holes 3-5 and added three more on 9, 10 and 11. He recovered from a bogey on 14 with a birdie at 15 and finished with four straight pars to post a 66 to add to his opening 65.
Belgium’s Thomas Detry, who opened with an even-par 71, shot a bogey-free 63 all day and is now tied for T5 with CT Pan of Chinese Taipei (65), who won the bronze medal, and Tom Kim from Korea (68) . Spain’s Jon Rahm (66) sits alone in fourth place.
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