Schauffele and Rahm share lead in a star-heavy chase for Olympic gold in golf

Jon Rahm of Spain in action during the third round of the Paris 2024 Olympics golf tournament at the Le Golf National, Guyancourt, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 04 August 2024
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Schauffele and Rahm share lead in a star-heavy chase for Olympic gold in golf

  • Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm were tied for the lead Saturday, one shot clear of Tommy Fleetwood
  • Seven of the leading 10 qualifiers for the Paris Games were within five shots of the lead
  • The swings in momentum were plenty, and so were the possibilities going into Sunday

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France: 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.

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.
 


World No. 11 Celine Boutier set to make series debut at Aramco Team Series

Updated 02 October 2024
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World No. 11 Celine Boutier set to make series debut at Aramco Team Series

  • Boutier to play alongside fellow LPGA stars Xiyu Lin, Ruoning Yin, Alison Lee, Angel Yin
  • ‘To win here would be especially memorable,’ says Boutier

SHENZHEN, China: World No. 11 Celine Boutier is set to make her series debut at the Aramco Team Series presented by PIF — Shenzhen from Oct. 4 to 6.

Boutier headlines a stellar field including fellow LPGA stars Xiyu Lin, Ruoning Yin, Alison Lee, and Angel Yin at the tournament organized by Golf Saudi and China Golf Association.

While the 30-year-old French golfer has six professional wins, including a major victory at the 2023 Amundi Evian Championship, Boutier is still seeking her first win of the 2024 season after a T18 finish at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Eager to claim victory at her event debut, Boutier relishes the opportunity to play in the unique format that has witnessed wins from the sport’s very best including Golf Saudi ambassador Charley Hull in 2021 and Nelly Korda in 2023.

“Competing in Shenzhen, surrounded by such strong talent in this innovative format, is an exciting challenge,” said Boutier.

“It’s also great to be part of an event with a focus on advancing the women’s game, creating more opportunities for female athletes to compete on a global stage.

“To win here would be especially memorable, particularly being back on the Ladies European Tour, and having won in the last event that was here in China, back in 2017,” she said.

Boutier will also face off against some of the LET’s top talents, including the current Order of Merit leader Chiara Tamburlini, who comes fresh from her second win of the season at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France.

Organized by Golf Saudi, the Aramco Team Series presented by PIF consists of five events on the LET each year, contributing an additional $5 million in prize money annually.

The series arrives in Shenzhen, following events in Tampa, Seoul, and London earlier this season, with the final leg set to tee off in Riyadh on Oct. 31.


PGA Tour commissioner and Saudi fund governor paired at pro-am event in Scotland

Updated 02 October 2024
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PGA Tour commissioner and Saudi fund governor paired at pro-am event in Scotland

  • Monahan is paired with Billy Horschel, while Al-Rumayyan is playing with Dean Burmester of South Africa, one of 14 players from LIV Golf in the field
  • Monahan and Al-Rumayyan were involved in meetings in New York on Sept. 11 and 12 as the two sides try to work out a deal

Three weeks after PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan met with Saudi Arabia’s financial backer of LIV Golf, they will be together again this week in Scotland, this time inside the ropes.

Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund that supports the LIV Golf League, are playing together in the Dunhill Links Championship on the European tour. The tournament starts Thursday.

Monahan is paired with Billy Horschel, while Al-Rumayyan is playing with Dean Burmester of South Africa, one of 14 players from LIV Golf in the field.

In the group directly behind them Thursday at Carnoustie will be Rory McIlroy, who will be playing with his father.

Monahan and Al-Rumayyan were involved in meetings in New York on Sept. 11 and 12 as the two sides try to work out a deal in which PIF would become a minority investor in PGA Tour Enterprises and they try to figure out a team concept and bring the sides together.

The PGA Tour has banned players who moved to LIV Golf, which launched in June 2022. The European tour has allowed players to return to certain events provided they take care of sanctions, a combination of suspensions and fines.

Jon Rahm is playing the Dunhill while he appeals his fines. A ruling on that — an independent panel previously ruled in favor of the European tour — is not expected until next year.

Guy Kinnings, the CEO of the European tour, also was part of the New York meetings and will be at the Dunhill Links. Kinnings expressed optimism that discussions were headed in the right direction although he said, “Long way to go. A lot of detail, complicated stuff to be done.”

There had been concern negotiations had stalled with little movement since June. The LIV Golf League ended on Sept. 22, and the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs ended at the end of August.

The tournament pairs a professional with an amateur for three rounds at St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. Al-Rumayyan also played in the Dunhill a year ago. Monahan has occasionally played in the AT&T Pebble Beach under a similar format.


Americans defeat Internationals to capture Presidents Cup

Updated 30 September 2024
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Americans defeat Internationals to capture Presidents Cup

  • The US team featured 12 of the world’s 25 top-ranked players and won fights late in matches to continue their rivalry domination

MONTREAL: With 2025 US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley delivering the deciding point, the United States won a 10th consecutive Presidents Cup on Sunday, defeating the Internationals 18.5-11.5 at Royal Montreal.
Bradley defeated South Korea’s Kim Si-woo 1-up to clinch the trophy, which gave the Americans a 13-1-1 lead in the series against the non-European side whose only win came in 1998.
“Wow, that was incredible,” Bradley said. “Just to play in this tournament and then to win the point, my goodness.”
The US team featured 12 of the world’s 25 top-ranked players and won fights late in matches to continue their rivalry domination.
“These players were amazing,” US captain Jim Furyk said. “These guys played their hearts out this week and they played really well on the back nine. We owned the back nine this week. That was the difference.”
The Internationals took seven lost or tied matches to the 18th hole this week before the Cup was decided.
“When you don’t get a win it’s disappointing but a lot of great things to take away,” Internationals captain Mike Weir of Canada said. “We’re close. A lot of these matches were so close.”
After winning Saturday’s foursomes and four-ball sessions each by 3-1, the Americans needed only 4.5 points in 12 singles matches for the trophy.
Wins by second-ranked Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley and Patrick Cantlay and a half-point tie from Sam Burns set the stage for Bradley, who last played on a US team at the 2014 Ryder Cup.
“Last time I played (in 2014), I was the point to lose the Ryder Cup,” Bradley said. “So if this is my last round as a player, I’m happy with that.”
Bradley, 38, birdied the 14th hole from just inside 12 feet for a 3-up lead over Kim.
But Bradley missed a four-foot par putt to lose 16 and an eight-foot birdie putt to clinch the match and Cup at the par-3 17th, then watched Kim sink a five-footer for birdie to push the match to the 18th hole.
Kim dropped his approach to just outside eight feet while Bradley landed 26 feet away. Bradley rolled his putt to the edge of the hole for a concession par, but when Kim missed his birdie putt, the Cup was sealed for the USA.
“I learned I can still do this,” said Bradley. “It’s always hard. That was really uncomfortable there at the end but I’m really proud of how everyone played.”
Schauffele, this year’s British Open and PGA Championship winner, made seven birdies and took the last five front-nine holes in winning 4&3 to finish 4-1 this week.
“My goal was just to set the tone, get red up on that board as early as possible, and I was able to do that,” Schauffele said.
Burns and Tom Kim tied in a match the American never trailed. Kim tied Burns with a 15-foot birdie putt to win 15 but missed another 15-footer to win 18, settling for a half-point.
“I struggled with my irons. Didn’t hit it great,” said Burns, the week’s only unbeaten player with three wins and a draw.
Henley’s four-foot par putt at 16 brought a 3&2 win over South Korean Im Sung-jae, who won only one hole and never led.
Japan’s seventh-ranked Hideki Matsuyama took an emotional 1-up victory over top-ranked Scottie Scheffler in a match that was never more than 1-up either way. Matsuyama birdied three of the last five holes for the triumph.
“Really happy with how I played,” Matsuyama said.
Canada’s Corey Conners beat Tony Finau 5&3 as the tension built.
Patrick Cantlay never trailed in putting the Americans on the brink with a 3&1 win over Canada’s Taylor Pendrith.
Cantlay sank a five-foot birdie putt to win 14 for a 1-up lead, dropped his approach inches from the cup to win 15 and closed out victory with a nine-foot birdie putt to win 17.
“It’s great to have the best players in the world on my team,” Cantlay said. “Everybody fought hard this week.”


Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay put the Americans back in control at Presidents Cup

Updated 29 September 2024
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Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay put the Americans back in control at Presidents Cup

  • Scottie Scheffler delivered big moments late in both of his matches, and Cantlay’s putt from just inside 17 feet in the dark gave the Americans another win, another point
  • International need to win eight of the 12 singles matches Sunday for a tie, and halve another if they want to win for the first time since 1998

MONTREAL: Patrick Cantlay couldn’t have hit the putt — he might not have seen the hole — without lights from a video board and the headlamps from golf carts surrounding the 18th green in the final match of the longest day at the Presidents Cup.

And then he delivered another “Patty Ice” moment that might have been enough to turn the lights out on the International team Saturday.

Scottie Scheffler delivered big moments late in both of his matches, and Cantlay’s putt from just inside 17 feet in the dark gave the Americans another win, another point, moving them one session closer to another Presidents Cup victory.

“Huge putt,” US captain Jim Furyk said. “If you had to hand select someone to hit a big putt on your team, I think Pat would come to a lot of people’s minds.”

They won the fourballs and foursomes sessions by a 3-1 margin. Cantlay and Xander Schauffele won on the 18th over Tom Kim and Si Wood Kim, the high-charged South Korean duo, that gave the Americans an 11-7 lead at Royal Montreal.

“Xander helped me read it,” Cantlay said of his match winner in near darkness. “It was like a cup out with some speed, and a putt like that will make me sleep a little better tonight.”

It was Si Woo Kim who chipped in from deep rough below the 16th green that gave his side hope, and he leaned his cheek into his hands the “Good Night” gesture made famous from Stephen Curry in the Paris Olympics this summer.

That turned out to be an early call.

Tom Kim said he could hear some American players cursing at them, though it wasn’t corroborated and Schauffele said he didn’t know to what the 22-year-old was referring. Most of the matches have been tight all week. The crowd has been loud. It has gotten chippy at times, expected in these team competitions.

What hasn’t changed is the Internationals face a big deficit.

They need to win eight of the 12 singles matches Sunday for a tie, and halve another if they want to win for the first time since 1998 — four years before Tom Kim was born — and only the second time since the Presidents Cup began in 1994.

International captain Mike Weir sat out four players all of Saturday, wanting to ride the teams that helped get his side back into the match with that 5-0 shutout on Friday.

One of them was Jason Day, who will be first out Sunday against Schauffele.

It’s the same deficit from two years ago, and Weir recalls the Internationals — a team facing distractions in 2022 of losing players who defected to Saudi-backed LIV Golf — making the Quail Hollow crowd quiet and the Americans sweat.

“We just have tremendous belief in our guys,” Weir said. “Might feel similar to what it was in Charlotte, but I’m just telling you, maybe there’s an upgrade in belief for our team.”

Tom Kim sounded even more determined, bordering on angry.

“I am so motivated to go out tomorrow ... because we’ve lost so many times, there’s going to be one day where it’s just going to be our day,” he said. “I believe it’s tomorrow.

“If we fall short, we’ll try again. That’s what we are. We’ll keep trying. There’s going to be one time when we’re going to hold the Cup, and it’s going to be sometime soon.”

Scheffler finished off a tight fourballs match with two late birdies in a morning session delayed 90 minutes by fog, and then he gave the Americans their first lead in foursomes with a wedge into a foot on the 14th hole that led to another point.

Scheffler started both matches slowly. Collin Morikawa kept them in the game in fourballs until Scheffler hit a dart from 195 yards to 8 feet for birdie on the 16th, and rolled in a 15-foot putt from off the green on the 17th for the win.

Russell Henley carried him in foursomes, especially after Scheffler missed par putts from 6 feet and 3 feet as they fell 3 down after five holes. But the world’s No. 1 player delivered late with a wedge into a foot on the 14th for their first lead and a 12-foot birdie on the next to take control.

“I have the best player in the world on my team, and we just kind of hung in there,” Henley said.

Adam Scott, playing in his 11th Presidents Cup without ever being on the winning side, carried Taylor Pendrith to a 2-and-1 victory in the afternoon foursomes over Brian Harman and Max Homa, the only International point in foursomes.

Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim won big over Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark in morning fourballs for the lone International victory.

They were all square or leading in all the afternoon matches at one point until the Americans took control, as they often do. Morikawa and Burns dug out of an early hole and beat the Canadian duo of Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes on the 18th hole when when Hughes hit a poor chip and Conners never came close on the 12-foot par putt.

In the anchor match in the morning, Im three times matched birdies against Cantlay and Burns to keep the match from getting out of hand. Cantlay chipped in for eagle on the 12th for a 2-up lead and he twice kept the Internationals from coming back by making putts from 25 feet and 18 feet when they were in tight.

“The guy’s an absolute assassin,” Burns said about Cantlay.


Internationals return the favor with a sweep of their own in the Presidents Cup

Updated 28 September 2024
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Internationals return the favor with a sweep of their own in the Presidents Cup

  • In a stunning turnaround at Royal Montreal, the Internationals flipped the script by sweeping the foursomes session, a performance so one-sided that the Americans led in only one of the five matches
  • Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im tied a record for the biggest blowout in the Presidents Cup

MONTREAL: Tony Finau could feel a big change when he stepped on the first tee Friday at the Presidents Cup. The horseshoe-shaped grandstand was packed and loud. The gallery was four-deep down the first fairway. The vibe was entirely different.

The biggest difference was the scoreboards. They switched from red to gold.

All of them.

In a stunning turnaround at Royal Montreal, the Internationals flipped the script by sweeping the foursomes session, a performance so one-sided that the Americans led in only one of the five matches, and that was only for one hole.

Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im tied a record for the biggest blowout in the Presidents Cup. Jason Day assured a full point with a chip that was sublime even by his standards. Si Woo Kim polished off a most perfect day with a 15-foot par putt.

Three of the matches didn’t get beyond the 14th hole.

“Incredible,” said Adam Scott, playing in his 11th Presidents Cup without ever winning one. “To come back and show everyone what this team is made of after a tough day out there yesterday is just incredible. ... This team knows what it’s capable of now.”

Tom Kim didn’t play and still played a big role. The 22-year-old from South Korea had said on Thursday he thought the crowd was too quiet, and he hoped Canadian fans would “help us out a little bit more.”

That they did, and scorecards filled with gold International leads were not even necessary. The noise across Royal Montreal made it clear what was happening. Inside the ropes, there was nothing the Americans could do about it.

“We definitely felt the energy right out of the gate,” Finau said. “I hit the first tee shot yesterday in our group, and I hit the first tee shot today. It was night-and-day difference, I think just the noise and the energy.”

Patrick Cantlay and and Xander Schauffele, 3-0 in foursomes at the Presidents Cup, never stood a chance against Matsuyama and Im. The Internationals had birdies on their final seven holes, a staggering streak considering they were alternating shots, for a 7-and-6 win.

It tied the Presidents Cup record, last done in 2011 when Scott and K.J. Choi defeated Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in 12 holes. The Americans didn’t help the cause by not hitting a fairway until the eighth hole. Then again, Matsuyama and Im were the equivalent of 8 under for 12 holes.

Right behind them, Scott and Taylor Pendrith made three straight birdies. They never trailed and lost only one hole in a 5-and-4 win over Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa.

The Canadians delivered, too. Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners won the first two holes in a 6-and-5 rout over Wyndham Clark and Tony Finau. They lost only one hole, and that was only after they had a 6-up lead after 11 holes.

“There was a lot of belief among the room, among the guys, that hey, we can still do this. We’re still a great team, and we’ve got a lot of golf left to play,” Hughes said. “We came here this morning, we had our heads held high, chin up, and we were ready to play.”

Two matches went the distance, and the Internationals were just as relentless.

Day and Christiaan Bezuidenhout were 1 up over Max Homa and Brian Harman going to the 18th. Day faced a pitch from muddied grass that had been tamped down by spectators. Once one of the best chippers in golf, even he was impressed to see it roll out to a foot.

“The lie wasn’t that great. It was wet,” Day said. “So I was just trying to understand the lie a little bit more through the practice swings. Is it going to bounce? Is it going to dig? Just for how wet it is.

“Halfway through the shot I had my hand up, just knowing it was going to be a good one.”

And then Si Woo Kim produced one last cheer. In a match in which 13 holes were halved, Kim and Byeong Hun An were 1 up over Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley going to the 18th when An hit left into a thick, nasty lie in the rough and Kim couldn’t reach the green.

“It was a tough second shot, so I told him, ‘Just get me inside 15 feet and I got it.’ And I knew I had a chance to win,” Kim said.

Henley missed a 25-foot birdie putt. Kim drained a 15-foot par putt to secure another 1-up victory, another full point, and a deadlock going into the weekend.

Saturday features two sessions — four matches of fourballs, four matches of foursomes — before the 12 singles matches on Sunday.

It’s almost like starting over, and now it becomes a sprint.

“I’m just so proud of the guys, so pumped for them,” International captain Mike Weir said. “To play that well yesterday and not have any points on the board was disappointing. So to see their hard work and them sticking in there and us captains and myself asking them to stick in there and believe, couldn’t be happier.”

It was the sixth time a session had been swept in the Presidents Cup, and the first for the International team since a 6-0 foursomes shutout in South Africa in 2003.

Weir put out three of his best foursomes matches for the Saturday morning fourballs session; US captain Jim Furyk kept three of his fourballs partnerships from Thursday.

“I said yesterday, ‘Their back’s against the wall. They’re going to come out firing,’” Furyk said. “Well, I’m sure my guys are a little pissed off right now back in the team room. The idea is to come out firing tomorrow.”