Golf finally has some Olympic buzz from a big and boisterous gallery, and it has the star power to match going into the final round of the men’s competition with medals finally at stake.
Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm were tied for the lead Saturday, one shot clear of Tommy Fleetwood. Hideki Matsuyama salvaged a wild day. Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy were close enough that gold is not out of reach.
Seven of the leading 10 qualifiers for the Paris Games were within five shots of the lead.
“I’m very, very excited to play,” Fleetwood said. “The leaderboard is amazing. It’s like a leaderboard that you would expect at the Olympics and probably what the sport deserves.”
Schauffele felt as if 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 hit 4-iron to 25 feet for eagle on the par-5 14th, just before Rahm three-putted for bogey on the hole ahead of him.
Rahm answered with a 35-foot birdie putt across the 17th green. The swings in momentum were plenty, and so were the possibilities going into Sunday.
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Rahm, playing on a big stage for the last time this year before he returns to LIV Golf, finished with a 5-under 66. Schauffele, who 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. “Fumbled my first hurdle and had to try and steady the ship coming in.”
He paused with a smirk before adding, “Like the little Olympics reference there?”
Schauffele is going after another gold that would cap a most amazing month of two majors.
The crowd was just as loud and just as noisy in slightly more pleasant weather. Fans have been allowed to see Olympic golf only twice since its return to the program — Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Paris, which has a history of hosting golf. The French Open dates to 1906.
“It might have been new in golf but it is the Olympics,” Rahm said. “I think the crowd knows it is, and we are all aware of what’s at stake.”
Rahm also is well aware this is not a two-man race.
Fleetwood, who started the third round tied at the top with Schauffele and Matsuyama, made only three birdies but holed a 6-foot par on the 18th that was equally meaningful. He had a 69 and was one shot behind.
Matsuyama recovered from a bad start for a 71 and was three behind along with Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark, who roared into contention with a 62. That tied the 18-hole record at Le Golf National also matched by his twin brother, Rasmus, in the French Open. Identical twins, identical score.
That got Schauffele’s attention as he looked ahead to the medal round.
“Sixty-two, that was something up there on the leaderboard,” Schauffele said. “Didn’t really see that. Just going to try and keep touch. You need to be in position to win on that back nine and try and fall on some previous experience and get it done.”
Scheffler and McIlroy are in medal position, maybe even gold. Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player and most dominant golfer over the last two years, surged 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 bogey. And he was poised to lose another shot when a drive into a deep bunker right of the 18th fairway forced him to lay up short of the water. But he hit wedge to tap-in range to save par for a 67.
He was four behind with Irish golfer Rory McIlroy (66), Tom Kim of South Korea (69) and Thomas Detry of Belgium (69).
“I feel like I haven’t had my best stuff the last few days, but I’ve done enough to hang in there and stay in the tournament,” Scheffler said. “Around this course, you can get hot. You saw Nicolai had a really nice round today, and I’m going to need something like that tomorrow if I’m going to be holding a medal.”
McIlroy lost in a seven-man playoff for the bronze in the Tokyo Games and famously said later that he “never tried so hard to finish third.” Without a major for 10 years, he’s in position for a medal, and the color depends on him and the five players in front of him.
“I’m going to have to probably shoot my lowest round of the week to have a chance at a medal. That’s the goal,” McIlroy said.
The sport that moves slower than a marathon now turns into a sprint. Schauffele can appreciate that.
