3-way tie at halfway mark of Olympics
Fleetwood joins Matsuyama and Schauffele atop podium race; Rahm close behind
Tommy Fleetwood carries good vibes of past glories at Le Golf National (Ben Jared/PGA Tour/IGF)
SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, FRANCE (IGF) — Hideki Matsuyama’s double bogey on the 18th hole on Friday dropped the Japanese star into a three-way tie at 11-under par with reigning Open and PGA champion Xander Schauffele of the United States and England’s Tommy Fleetwood through 36 holes in the Men’s Olympic Golf Competition.
It was Fleetwood — who won the 2017 French Open and 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National — who made the biggest move to reach the top, shooting a 7-under 64 despite his own bogey at the last hole. Schauffele shot 66 despite three bogeys of his own to continue his torrid form as he seeks to repeat as Olympic gold medalist.
Spain’s Jon Rahm is close on the lead trio’s heels, alone in fourth at 9-under after a 66 of his own. Belgium’s Thomas Detry shot the low score of the day with an 8-under 63 to share fifth with Tokyo bronze medalist C.T. Pan of Taiwan and Korea’s Tom Kim.
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.
“I’ve played it enough to understand sort of how the golf course plays. It’s an amazing tee shot and approach shot golf course,” Fleetwood said. “I feel comfortable with the decisions I make off the tee. You still have to step up and hit a golf shot but I feel comfortable with how the course plays and the game plan and that. So that’s one thing. But like I say, you still have to step up and hit the golf shots. I’ve done that good so far and I’ll try and just keep doing that.”
Hideki Matsuyama hacks out of trouble en route to double on 18th hole (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Matsuyama, who opened with an 8-under 63, posted a 68 in the second round that featured an up-and-down 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 former Masters champion and 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.
“It was a sad ending, but I’m glad that today was only the second day,” said Matsuyama/ “I think it means I need to change my mindset for the third day. I was glad I was able to get birdies.
“That shot (on 18) was 115 yards from the pin, so I hit it thinking I’d play it safe on the left side, but the wind had more of an effect than I expected and it ended up in the pond.”
Xander Schauffele is squatting on another lead as he chases a second gold medal (Ben Jared/PGA Tour/IGF)
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.
“A little bit of everything. Five under is a good score on this property,” Schauffele said. “Overall, sitting in a good spot coming into the weekend.”
Rahm, a former world No. 1, lurks ominously two shots behind as he hope to make up for a relatively disappointing major season.
“It’s good to come back to a world stage and put myself in position,” Rahm said. “The Open I was there, but I wasn’t quite close enough to have a chance on Sunday. Even though I ended up top 10, it was never really a reality of winning it.
“Today I put myself in position, and hopefully I can keep it going on the weekend.”
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is tied for 10th six shots off both the lead and a podium position after a second-round 69 in which he needed to make four birdies on the back to overcome a sloppy double bogey on the seventh hole.
“I mean, panic is definitely not the right word,” he said of his standing after the double and trying to stay close at the midpoint. “But when you look up the at the leaderboard, I think at the time I was maybe nine shots back or something like that. Around a golf course like this where the scores are going to continue to get lower, it could be tough to catch up. I needed to do something to get back in the tournament. I did a good job.
“I think that’s the internal battle you have of staying patient. I know if I stay patient around this golf course and play well, I can shoot a low score. It’s just a matter of if I start freaking out and start forcing things, you’re going to get in trouble really fast.”
Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is T13 ay 5-under overall after a 69 that included an eagle, four birdies, two bogeys and a double.
“A few too many mistakes. Sort of similar story to yesterday,” he said. “You know, making the good swings and making enough birdies and another eagle today. But yeah, just offset by a few too many mistakes over the first couple days.”
Detry’s 63 tied the lowest second-round score in the Olympics (Schauffele in 2021). The Belgian won the 2018 World Cup of Golf with Thomas Pieters at the Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia.
“I think the closer we got to the Olympics, the more we realized how big this is,” Detry said. “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.”
Pan played the back nine in 6-under 29 on Friday after an even-par front nine, posting his second score of 65 or better in 10 career rounds in the Men’s Olympic Golf Competition (he shot 63 in the final round in Tokyo before claiming the bronze in a seven-man playoff. Pan is one of four golfers in this week’s field who has competed in all three men’s Olympic golf competitions since 2016
Tom Kim, the youngest golfer in the field at 22, has two top-five finishes in 22 starts on the PGA Tour in 2024, including a playoff loss to Scottie Scheffler at the Travelers Championship.