SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France: Golf finally has some Olympic buzz from the big, boisterous gallery and the star power to match it going into the final round of the men's competition, where medals are finally at stake.
Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm tied for the lead on Saturday, one shot ahead of Tommy Fleetwood. Hideki Matsuyama saved the wild day. Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy were close enough that gold is not out of reach.
Seven of the top 10 qualifiers for the Paris Games were within five shots of the lead.
“I'm very, very excited to play,” Fleetwood said. “The scoreboard is amazing. It's like the ranking you'd expect at the Olympics and probably what the sport deserves.”
Schauffele felt like he was running in place and losing ground until he turned a two-shot deficit into a one-shot lead within minutes. He hit a 4-iron to 25 feet for eagle on the par-5 14th, just before Rahm three-putted bogey on the hole before him.
Rahm responded with a 35-foot birdie putt over the 17th green. There were many swings in pace and so were the possibilities that went into Sunday.
Rahm, playing on the big stage for the last time this year before returning to LIV Golf, finished with a 5-under 66. Schauffele, who has won the PGA Championship and British Open this year, got off to a slow start before posting a 32 on the back nine for a 68.
They were at 14-under 199, tying the 54-hole Olympic record Schauffele set when he won gold at the Tokyo Games.
“I'm slow out of the gates here,” Schauffele said. “I ran into my first obstacle and had to try to hold off the incoming ship.
He paused with a smirk before adding, “Like that little reference to the Olympics?”
Schauffele is after another gold to cap the most amazing month of two majors.
The crowd was just as loud and just as rowdy in slightly nicer weather. Fans have only been able to see Olympic golf twice since its return to the program – in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and in Paris, which has golf history behind it. The French Open dates back to 1906.
“It may have been a novelty in golf, but it's the Olympics,” Rahm said. “I think the crowd knows it is, and we all realize what's at stake.
Rahm is also well aware that this is not a two-man race.
Fleetwood, who entered the third round tied for the top spot with Schauffel and Matsuyama, had just three birdies but a 6-foot par on the 18th hole that was just as significant. He had a 69 and was one shot behind.
Matsuyama recovered from a poor start with a 71 to be three behind Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark, who raced into contention with a 62. In doing so, he equaled the 18-hole record at Le Golf National, which was also matched by his twin brother Rasmus. French Open. Identical twins, same score.
That caught Schauffele's attention as he looked ahead to the medal round.
“Sixty-two, that was something on the scale,” Schauffele said. “I didn't really see that. I'll just try to keep in touch. You've got to be in a position to win on that back nine and try to get some previous experience and get it done.”
Scheffler and McIlroy are in medal position, maybe even gold. Scheffler, the world No. 1 and the most dominant golfer of the past two years, got into contention with three birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine.
He fell back with a chip that didn't reach 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 lie just above the water. But he hit a wedge to tap-in range to save par for a 67.
He was four behind Irish golfer Rory McIlroy (66), Tom Kim of South Korea (69) and Thomas Detry of Belgium (69).
“I feel like I haven't been at my best the last few days, but I've done enough to hang in there and stay in the tournament,” Scheffler said. “You can get hot around this course. You saw Nicolai had a really nice bike 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 famously said he had “never tried so hard to finish third”. Without a major for 10 years, he is in medal position and the color depends on him and the five players ahead of him.
“I'll probably have to shoot my lowest round 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. Schauffele can appreciate that.
