SAINT-CONTAIN-EN-YVELLIN, France: Golf has finally received Olympic buzz from a large and raucous gallery, and it has the star power to match going into the final round of the men's event with medals finally on the line.
On Saturday, Xander Schaufele and John Rahm led by one shot, ahead of Tommy Fleetwood. Hideki Matsuyama saved a wild day. Scotty Scheffler and Rory McIlroy were so close that gold is not out of reach.
Seven of the top 10 qualifiers for the Paris Games were within five shots of the leader.
“I'm really, really excited to play,” Fleetwood said. “The leaderboard is amazing. It's like the leaderboard you expect at the Olympics and probably what the sport deserves.”
Schaufele felt like he was running in place and losing ground until he turned a two-shot deficit into a one-shot lead in a matter of minutes. He made a 25-foot 4-iron for eagle on the par-5 14th, just before Rahm three-putted for bogey on the hole in front of him.
Rahm responded with a 35-foot birdie putt over the 17th green. Momentum lapses were plentiful, as were opportunities leading up to Sunday.
Rahm, playing on the big stage for the last time this year before returning to LIV Golf, finished with a 5-under 66. Schaufele, who won the PGA Championship and British Open this year, got off to a slow start before posting a 32 on the back nines for 68.
They were 14-under 199, tying the 54-hole Olympic record set by Schaufele when he won gold at the Tokyo Games.
“I'm slow out of the gate,” Schaufele said. “Fumbled my first obstacle and had to try and hold off an oncoming ship.”
He paused with a smirk before adding, “How about a little Olympic reference?”
Schaufele is looking for another gold to cap the strangest month of the two majors.
The crowd was just as loud and just as boisterous in slightly nicer weather. Fans have only been allowed to see Olympic golf twice since its return to the program – in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and in Paris, which already hosted golf. The French Open dates back to 1906.
“It may have been new to golf, but it's the Olympics,” Rahm said. “I think the crowd knows that's the case and we're all aware of what's at stake.”
Ram is also well aware that this is not a two-man race.
Fleetwood, who started the third round tied with Schaufele and Matsuyama, made just three birdies but hit a 6-foot par on the 18th that was just as important. He had a 69 and was one shot behind.
Matsuyama recovered from a shaky start with a 71 and was three shots behind with Denmark's Nikolaj Hojgaard, who entered the fray with a 62. That equaled the 18-hole record at Le Golf National, also tied with his twin brother Rasmus. French Open Championship. Identical twins, same number.
That got Schaufele's attention as he looked ahead to the medal round.
“Sixty-two, that was something up there on the leaderboard,” Schaufele said. “I really didn't see it coming. Just trying to keep in touch. You have to be able to win on that back nine and try to build on some previous experience and do it.”
Scheffler and McIlroy are in medal position, maybe even gold. Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world and the most dominant golfer of the past two years, entered the fray with three birdies in six holes on the back nine.
He retreated with a chip that missed the green on the 17th and led to a bogey. And he was poised to lose another shot when a drive into a deep bunker to the right of the 18th fairway forced him to stop near the water. But he wedged it into reach to keep the score at 67.
He was four behind Irish golfer Rory McIlroy (66), South Korea's Tom Kim (69) and Belgium's Thomas Detry (69).
“I feel like I haven't been at my best the last few days, but I've done enough to hang on and stay in the tournament,” Scheffler said. “At this rate, you can get hot. You saw that Nikolai had a very good round today and I'll need something like that tomorrow if I'm going to hold the medal.''
McIlroy lost in a seven-man playoff for bronze at the Tokyo Games and later said he had “never tried so hard to finish third”. Out of a major for 10 years, he is in position for a medal and the color depends on him and the five players in front of him.
“I'll probably have to shoot my lowest number of the week to have a chance at a medal. That's the goal,” McIlroy said.
A sport that moves slower than a marathon is now turning into a sprint. Schaufele can appreciate that.
