Olympic golf has develop into a shootout. Get your popcorn prepared

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — On Friday evening, Thomas Bjorn took Nicolai Hojgaard and Thorbjorn Olesen out for dinner in Versailles. Bjorn is a European golf legend however is serving as staff captain this week — an middleman who helps make all the things manageable for gamers on this irregular setting.

Basically, he’s a very good vibes creator. Bjorn needed to get the Olympians out of the resort a bit, change issues up, and to go to Le Limousin, a French bistro — one among his favorites. 

Twenty-four hours later, you’d need to hope they’re again at Le Limousin consuming the identical meal as a result of Workforce Denmark flipped the Olympics on edge. 

Now, you’ll have already seen the leaderboard. You may see Spain, USA and Workforce Nice Britain within the high three spots. You might even see the single-name guys — Hideki, Rory and Scottie — all within the chase. However what Denmark did was merely get everybody pondering about the remainder of the sector. Hojgaard and Olesen arrived within the resort foyer Saturday morning “with a special look on their faces,” Bjorn stated. And the consequence?

Olesen shot 66 with a bogey. Hojgaard beat him by 4, tying the course report 62, launching up the leaderboard. Making everybody assume in another way about what is feasible tomorrow. Making them take into consideration the objects within the rear-view mirror. Making them take into consideration needing a par on that brutal 18th gap, the hardest on the property.

Some of the irregular elements of this event is you can nearly assure a playoff on Sunday night. With the highest three locations needing to be settled in an orderly style — for the rostrum and for elevating flags and the historical past books — a 62 from, uh, Alejandro Tosti goes to make issues fascinating. A 62 from Erik Van Rooyen may very well be golden. Wait, is a 61 attainable, say, for Wyndham Clark, who shot that rating at Pebble Seashore in February? Test that — it was a 60 at Pebble. Somebody going nuclear out right here abruptly appears very attainable. 

“62, that was one thing up there on the leaderboard,” stated our co-leader, Xander Schauffele, arms tight on the steering wheel. “Didn’t actually see that, to be fully sincere.”

We’re probably not certain Nicolai did, both.

“I believe I went on the market identical to there’s nothing to lose,” he stated. “We’re to this point behind.”

And so they have been. However they aren’t now. Hojgaard is simply three again.

Eleven of the highest 20 gamers on this planet are competing this week and abruptly eight of these 11 are inside 4 photographs of the lead. However making use of our 62 principle — a spherical two higher than all of the others is clearly on the market — we’ve acquired no less than 20 gamers who’re a 62 away from a medal. 

Tommy Fleetwood, settled into the Bronze place for the time being, was requested if a 62 like that may be a “freak spherical.”

“It’s not a freak spherical. It’s a freakishly good spherical,” Fleetwood stated. He would know a factor or two about Le Golf Nationwide, since he received the French Open right here and starred within the Ryder Cup a yr later. 

“Immediately I don’t assume I used to be able to capturing that rating with what I had. You simply need to play with what you’ve acquired, and if I had gone out right this moment and began firing and thought 62 is what I wanted to do, I’d be nowhere close to and I’d most likely be worse off.”

However that’s the purpose. Pondering about 62. Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 participant on this planet, is 4 again, however thinks a 62 is what it’ll take to win Gold. Rory McIlroy, tied with Scheffler, shot a 66 Saturday, his finest spherical of the week, and already believes he wants to higher it tomorrow. There are too many chasers.

Suppose again to 3 years in the past, when one other Rory, Mr. Sabbatini, confirmed as much as Kasumigasecki Nation Membership for his last spherical within the Slovakian purple, white and blue. Together with his spouse caddying in brutally scorching circumstances, Sabbatini was pulling irons out of the bag to make it a better stroll. He additionally shot 61 — the best stroll! — and leap-frogged everybody into Silver place. 

Behind him, as has been well-documented, was a 7-man playoff for Bronze. A stacked one, too. One that also sticks in Collin Morikawa’s craw three years later, as he was the final man standing who didn’t win a medal, ultimately dropping to C.T. Pan. (Talking of Pan, he’s among the many group at seven underneath, six photographs again of the rostrum.)

Via 54 holes, we’ve one thing largely neat and orderly. A LIV golfer tied with a PGA Tour golfer for the lead. A transparent, solo artist, nursing a two-shot Bronze lead. (Or is it a one-shot Gold deficit?) And a bunch of individuals like Jason Day (5 again) able to step on the fuel. 

“Closing for a medal is much more tough than simply ending on a Saturday,” Day stated. “I’m going to be pushing tomorrow. I must attempt to win a medal. That’s my objective. After which there’s different guys which might be form of within the lead. They’ll be pondering rather a lot. There’s much more stress on them. It’s completely comprehensible. However there’s a number of stuff that may go unsuitable in these ending holes. Fingers crossed I play these good tomorrow.”

He stated it. Everybody’s pondering it.