Team USA’s Scottie Scheffler fired a final-round 62 that included a superb run of four consecutive birdies on the back nine to win gold at the 2024 Olympics, continuing his generational season.
Scheffler’s victory, at -19, was the culmination of one of the best back-to-back Sundays of the year, a day at Le Golf National outside Paris where many of today’s top golfers held a medal in one hand and then let it slip away.
Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood (-18) won silver and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (-17) took bronze.
Paris 2024 marked the true emergence of golf on the Olympic stage. The sport’s return to the Olympics in Rio was marred by fears of the Zika virus, which kept many of the sport’s biggest names at home, and the empty galleries at Tokyo 2021 did little to bolster the sport’s image. This year in Paris, the galleries stretched across the hills of Le Golf National and the effect was powerful.
“At the Masters you don’t have this atmosphere. It’s different. I think it’s a bit more fun than a major. It’s kind of a celebration,” Irishman Rory McIlroy said Saturday. “I feel French this week, with the amount of ‘Allez, Rory’ I’ve heard. It’s been really cool.”
Spain’s Jon Rahm used Sunday’s momentum to surge to the top of the leaderboard. He and 2020 gold medal winner Xander Schauffele of the United States arrived at Le Golf National on Sunday tied at -14, with Fleetwood a stroke behind. Eleven players were within four strokes of bronze, giving much of the field a chance to medal.
After 10 holes, Rahm seemed to have the gold secured, four shots ahead of everyone else. But then came a reminder that the Olympics have a way of keeping everyone guessing. Rahm three-putted the par-3 11th at about the same time Fleetwood and Matsuyama were birdieing their holes, and suddenly the four-shot lead became two.
One hole later, again within minutes of each other, Fleetwood birdied the 12th while Rahm bogeyed, and then Rahm’s lead was gone entirely. With six holes left to play, Matsuyama was a shot back at -17, and McIlroy, on a four-birdie streak, was a shot off the medal podium at -16.
The most intriguing player on the back nine, at least from the perspective of the raucous gallery, was Frenchman Victor Perez, who reeled off a run of four consecutive birdies and an eagle to move within two shots of the lead. His every move on the course drew cheers from the crowd, which had nothing to do with the Olympics, and the prospect of a medal looming tantalisingly close.
One player who was particularly interesting on Sunday was Tom Kim, who had a lot more at stake than a bit of metal. Had Kim won a medal, he would have been exempt from serving 18 to 21 months of mandatory military service in South Korea. He came within one stroke of a medal, but ended up tripping in the clubhouse and finished at 14-under.
The first of the leaders to leave was Schauffele, who bogeyed the 12th and 13th to fall four shots off the lead. Other major winners had better luck; McIlroy’s 49-foot eagle putt on the 14th ended up in range, dropping him to -17 and a shot off the lead. Scheffler’s approach on the water-protected island green at the 15th was inches away, and his tee shot on the 16th was within birdie range; two birdies later and he was tied for the lead at -18.
However, McIlroy followed Schauffele up the leaderboard when his shot at 15 went off the green and into the water, leading to a double bogey that cost him the round. Behind him, Rahm struggled at 14 and made a double bogey that left him two shots behind the leader. So with four holes left for the leaders, Scheffler and Fleetwood shared the lead at -18, Matsuyama was one behind at -17. Rahm and Perez were at -16, and McIlroy and Kim at -15.
Perez took the lead at the clubhouse at -16 in front of a cheering crowd, capping a 29 on the back nine. Scheffler then holed a 16-foot putt on the 17th for his fourth consecutive birdie and took the solo lead at -19. Shortly after, Fleetwood birdied the 16th to tie for the lead. Rahm also holed a long birdie on the 16th to stop the bleeding on the back nine and get to -17, tied with Matsuyama.
Scheffler’s birdie putt on the 18th, which would have set an Olympic and Le Golf National record, skidded just over the hole. He made a nervous par and walked into the clubhouse with a -19 and a medal all but assured.
That left Fleetwood, Rahm and Matusyama in the field in search of a medal. Matsuyama couldn’t finish the 18th hole with a birdie, ending the day at -17. Fleetwood’s long par putt on the 17th went wide, leaving him at -18 heading into the final hole. Rahm also bogeyed the hole, dropping to -16 and out of the hunt for a medal.
So with one hole to play, Fleetwood needed a par to take silver, a birdie to force a playoff for gold, and Rahm needed a birdie to force a playoff for bronze. Fleetwood’s approach shot went long and wide left, and Rahm’s shot ended up just wide of the pin. After Fleetwood missed his third shot, the gold medal went to Scheffler.
Rahm missed his par putt, leaving him one shot away from the medal podium. Fleetwood managed to sink his par putt, staying one shot ahead of Matsuyama and taking silver.
