SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, FRANCE: Despite a double bogey at the final hole on Friday, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama managed to maintain his position atop the leaderboard after round two of the Olympic men’s golf competition at Le Golf National.
Related: Slow start for Shubhankar, Gaganjeet as Matsuyama blazes Paris
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Joining him at 11-under are Team USA’s Xander Schauffele and Team Great Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood.
From an Indian perspective, Shubhankar Sharma and Gaganjeet Bhullar came up with improved performances. Sharma moved up six spots from the overnight T29 with a 2-under 69 on the back of the 1-under 70, Bhullar too climbed six spots to be T52 with a 69 after a poor opening with a 75.
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Matsuyama, who opened with an 8-under 63, followed up Friday with a 3-under 68 that featured an up-anddown front nine with three birdies and two bogeys. He seemed to be shifting momentum in the right direction on the back nine, making back-to-back birdies on Nos. 10 and 11 followed by a string of pars before notching two more birdies on 16 and 17.
But an errant tee shot on the par-4 18th put the current world No. 12 well right of the fairway, and his second shot off the mounds went just 66 yards and didn’t make it past the first cut of rough. He dumped his third shot in the water in front of the green and after taking a drop, Matsuyama hit it to 12 feet and made the putt for a 6.
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World No. 14 Fleetwood (67-64) flirted with the course record during his second round, getting it to 8-under on the day through 17 holes before finishing with his lone bogey of the day at the last. His round was highlighted by an eagle at the par-5 third, where he drained a putt from 46 feet, 9 inches.
After the starting the day one stroke off the lead, defending gold medalist and World No. 2 Schauffele (65-66) dropped a shot early with a bogey at the second, but then turned things around with a stretch of three straight birdies on Nos. 3-5 and added three more on Nos. 9-11. He recovered from a bogey on 14 with a birdie at 15 and finished with four straight pars.
Belgium’s Thomas Detry, who opened with an even-par 71, carded the round of the day with a bogey-free, 8-under 63 – one off the course record and two off the Olympic record.
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He stands T5 with Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan (69-65), the defending bronze medalist, and Korea’s Tom Kim (66-68). Spain’s Jon Rahm (67-66) sits in solo fourth.
“I think the closer we got to the Olympics, the more we realised how big this is. Seeing how many people are here, it’s like the Ryder Cup, I want to say. There’s people everywhere. It’s incredible. Even for Friday,” said Detry.
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Pan (T5/-8) played the back nine in 6-under 29 after an even-par front nine and posted his second score of 65 or better in 10 career rounds in the men’s Olympic golf competition (63/2020/R4).
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist is one of four athletes in this week’s field who has competed in all three men’s Olympic golf competitions since 2016.
