New year, different city, another Summer Games ... but so far, similar results. Two of the three golfers who contended for medals three years ago are again contending at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The United States' Xander Schauffele, the defending gold medalist, sits two shots behind Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, who lost bronze during a playoff in Tokyo, through 18 holes at Le Golf National.
Matsuyama opened these Olympic Games with an 8-under 63, one shot off the course record set by Eduardo Romero in 2005. Behind Scahuffele, the rest of the field trails Matsuyama by three or more.
It was Schauffele who stood out in the afternoon wave. Fresh off his victory at The Open Championship two weeks ago, he ran his score to 7 under midway through his back nine on Thursday before pulling off the gas a bit and ultimately finishing with a 65, which has him in solo second.
Matsuyama was his usual reserved self despite the tremendous start in which he gained over six shots on the field.
"Today's result was good," he said. "So, I'll take that as a positive. My putts went in the cup well today. My shots went into the fairway, too. So, I had a lot of chances, so I'm happy."
In other words: Golf is easy when you hit it like this.
Matsuyama avoided trouble on the water-filled golf course. With hazards on 10 different holes, there was trouble lurking all over Le Golf National, and plenty of players found it. Matsuyama, like Schauffele, did not.
Schauffele's only mishap came on the par-4 17th when he pulled a drive into the rough and could not save par. That after playing his first 14 holes in 7 under. He looked incredible throughout and played in a way that, again like Matsuyama, made the golf look easier than it should have been.
That duo, along with Scottie Scheffler of the United States, will be the golfers to beat in Paris over the next three days. Though they are not 1-2-3 on the leaderboard, they are the clear favorites at the top after the first 18 holes.
Surprisingly active audience
The crowds at Le Golf National shocked players with their energy. Here's what they had to say after the first round ...
Scheffler (-4): "I didn't really know what to expect. The last couple days it's been pretty quiet around the course. ... I didn't really know what to expect, but there's definitely more people than I expected. I think there was a bit of a noise factor on the course. There was definitely more noise than we're used to in terms of people having their phones on and cameras clicking and stuff like that. I'm not able to communicate to people to not click during the swing.
"We were standing on No. 2 ask there were camera clicks going off all over the place, I'm like, 'Oh, my gosh.' The only other place you do that at the Masters for the first few days, the cameras during the practice rounds are loud. I reminded myself that I played in so many games at the Masters the first few days, and I did just fine and was able to handle it today."
Ireland's Rory McIlroy (-3): "Unbelievable. It was surprising. With so many events going on spread all across the city, for people to venture out here and to watch us play, it was a really cool atmosphere to play in."
When asked what he was expecting from the crowd, McIlroy said, "Not this. I thought the weekend it might get a few more people. I thought the first couple days might be a little bit quieter but it was awesome."
Olympic golf is different
One of the early revelations this week is just how much the Olympics means to golfers who are experiencing it for the first (or even a second or third) time.
"Even majors, you play for yourself, and I guess it's my first Olympics, so it's a little different," said Australia's Min Woo Lee (+5) after shooting 75. "But going through the majors, you kind of get used to it. But yeah, it's not like I was nervous. I just had kind of like a tear in my eye because I made the team and I'm representing Australia, which is weird, I guess. I didn't know I was going to react like that."
Added countryman Jason Day (-2): "I was just saying a little bit earlier that this is probably the most nervous I've been wearing a set of clothes that you look down and see the colors. The first couple holes caught me off-guard actually quite a lot. I was quite nervous standing over the first tee shot and then it took me a few holes to get over it."
Shot of the day
This shot from Spain's Jon Rahm (-4) was nasty. Rahm had two eagles on the day and ran his score all the way to 5 under before hitting a ball in the water on the par-3 16th and dropping a shot coming home. He shot 67, though, and is certainly in the mix.
The big struggle
The United States' Wyndham Clark, who has an equal number of missed cuts as top 10s (five) since winning the Pebble Beach Pro Am back in February, was terrible on Thursday. He started bogey-double-bogey and went out in 39. His 74 was good enough to beat exactly two players, Lee and Spain's Camilo Villegas (+5), both of whom were one shot worse with 75s. Clark is T56 after the first round.
2024 Olympics updated odds
- Xander Schauffele: 3-1
- Scottie Scheffler: 4-1
- Hideki Matsuyama: 13/2
- Jon Rahm: 10-1
- Rory McIlroy: 11-1
- Joaquin Niemann: 12-1
- Tom Kim: 16-1
I actually quite like that Rahm number at 10-1. He played some incredible (albeit volatile) golf on Thursday. There's a path where he cleans that up and catches some heat over these next three days.
