Schauffele Leads Olympic Golf As Matsuyama And McIlroy Charge
The leaderboard is shaping up very nicely at Kasumigaseki Country Club with two days left of the men's Olympic golf tournament
The leaderboard is shaping up very nicely at Kasumigaseki Country Club with two days left of the men's Olympic golf tournament
Xander Schauffele matched the low round of the Olympic Golf tournament so far with a 63 on day two to lead at the near-halfway mark.
Play was suspended due to to dangerous weather with a few groups still yet to complete their rounds at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
Schauffele, whose Taiwanese mother was brought up in Japan, sits at 11-under-par after 36 holes as he heads into the weekend as bookies' favourite to take gold for Team USA.
The four-time PGA Tour winner's 63 featured two eagles, six birdies and two bogeys, with an eagle and three birdies coming in a stunning final five hole stretch.
He is one ahead of Mexico's Carlos Ortiz at 10-under, two clear of a group on eight-under that includes Masters winner and home favourite Hideki Matsuyama.
Hideki still has two holes left to complete but was six-under for his second round through 16 holes thanks to six birdies and no dropped shots.
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Rory McIlroy, making his Olympics debut, made five birdies and an eagle to charge up the leaderboard and give himself, and Ireland, a great shot at a medal on Sunday.
The four-time Major winner sits at seven-under-par after 36 holes and is just four strokes back with two days of golf left to play.
Whilst he may not be patriotic as such, McIlroy appears to be loving his Olympic experience so far.
"I think when you're a competitor and athlete and your sport is in the Olympics, you feel part of something that's bigger than your sport in general," he said.
"So I think if I've learnt anything already this week it's that you feel you're part of something bigger, which is a cool thing."
McIlroy's Irish teammate Shane Lowry is also at seven-under after a 65.
Team GB's Paul Casey is another at seven-under, with Tommy Fleetwood at three-under.
First round leader Sepp Straka carded a level-par 71 to remain at eight-under.
Round two continues at 11.45pm GMT, with the final group going out in the third round at 3.18am GMT.
Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: Srixon Z Star XV
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