Saint-Quentin-En-Yvelines, France: Hideki Matsuyama holds a two-shot lead after a low-scoring opening round in the Olympic men’s golf competition at Le Golf National.
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The Japan native produced a bogey-free, 8-under 63 to top the 60-athlete leaderboard on a sultry day in the outskirts of Paris that featured two weather delays.
Related: Matsuyama eyes Paris redemption to douse Open angst
India was off to a subdued start with Shubhankar Sharma at T29 with an opening 1-under 70. Gaganjeet Bhullar squandered a good start to slip to T56 with a 4-over 75.
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Defending gold medalist Xander Schauffele from the United States maintained his momentum from winning his second Major title this season at last month’s Open Championship to sit second after a 65.
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Joaquin Niemann of Chile, Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo and Korea’s Tom Kim were then three shots off the lead at 5-under.
After missing out on a bronze medal in a playoff on home soil at Tokyo 2020, Matsuyama made the ideal start in his bid for a podium finish as he hit 11 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens.
The World No 12 enjoyed a fast start with back-to-back birdies at the second and third, before three birdies in succession from the seventh saw him hit the turn in 5-under.
He then made it four birdies in a row at the 10th before two more gains at the 13th and 14th put him firmly in position to break the course record of 9-under 62.
While the early starter on Day 1 was unable to maintain that remarkable pace, he did stay blemish-free as he parred the tough four-hole closing stretch.
The in-form Schauffele got off to an excellent start with a chip-in birdie at the first, before six further birdies saw him close to two off the clubhouse lead held by Matsuyama.
His lone bogey of the day came at the 17th – just before lightning in the area resulted in a 39-minute interruption. He finished the round just before an additional suspension resulted in a delay lasting just over an hour.
World No 1 Scottie Scheffler carded a flawless 4-under 67, while Rory McIlroy made an eagle in a 68 that was matched by Ryder Cup-winning teammate Ludvig Åberg, as the marquee threeball drew big crowds.
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“It was nice to play in front of a good crowd. Big crowd. It was a lot of fun. They were cheering loud for us. It was pretty fun. Was definitely not expecting that coming in. I didn’t really know what to expect but there’s definitely more people than I expected,” said Scheffler.
Tommy Fleetwood (T6/-4), winner of the 2017 FedEx Open de France and 2018 Ryder Cup participant at Le Golf National, opened with a bogey-free 67.
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Earlier in the day, Victor Perez enjoyed the honour of hitting the opening tee shot on home soil. He recovered from a sluggish start to card four birdies on the back nine and finish at 1-under and T29, one stroke ahead of fellow countryman Matthieu Pavon.
“I told my caddie, James, let’s be [at the first tee] the full 10 minutes before and really soak it all in. It’s definitely a once-in-a-lifetime. I’ll never hit this tee shot again, opening games in Paris and being French and having all the home support. I wanted to be there. There wasn’t going to be more pressure whether I was there for ten minutes or four minutes,” said Perez.
