GUYANCOURT, France — Xander Schauffele waited out a lightning delay and kept himself within striking distance of the lead after the first round of play at the men’s Olympic golf tournament Thursday at Le Golf National near Paris.
Schauffele shot a 65 and is alone in second place at 6 under, two back of Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (63) and one stroke clear of Joaquin Niemann (Chile), Emiliano Grillo (Argentina) and Tom Kim (South Korea), who share third place with a host of marquee names one behind after opening-round 67s.
Matsuyama, who missed out on bronze on home soil three years ago in a seven-way playoff, posted a bogey-free round and had eight birdies.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was part of the logjam at 4 under, with Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy at 3 under.
For the third consecutive Olympics, an opening-round 63 is good for the lead.
Matsuyama led the field in shots gained putting (2.7) on Thursday. He was six shots back with a first-round 69 at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Lightning in the area shortly before 4:30 p.m. local time caused a delay with Schauffele among the few in the 60-player field remaining on the course.
Matsuyama had already completed his round and was atop the leaderboard, right where he would stay.
Schauffele, the gold medalist at the Tokyo Games in 2021, was one of 20 in the 60-player field yet to complete the round. He was tied with Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz at 2 under when the lightning alarm sounded.
Schauffele rolled in a birdie from 11 feet on the par-5 14th to get within one shot of the lead. With one hole to go, Schauffele chip got him to within 6 feet for par, but he missed the putt on 17 and settled for closing the first round two off the pace.
–Field Level Media (Reuters contributed to this report)
