SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — Golf, Olympic-style, came alive Thursday, a pleasant surprise amid continuing uncertainty as to whether the sport should even be in the games at all.
A boisterous if not necessarily keen-on-golf crowd arrived early at Le Golf National to greet the 60 players who are competing in the men’s Olympic Golf Tournament, making for a nice atmosphere that was somewhat unexpected.
“Unbelievable. It was surprising,” said Rory McIlroy, who shot 68 to trail first-round leader Hideki Matsuyama by five shots. “With so many events going on spread all across the city, for people to venture out here and to watch us play, it was a really cool atmosphere to play in.”
Le Golf National, which was the venue for the 2016 Ryder Cup and has hosted several French Opens on the DP World Tour, is approximately 30 miles from Paris and a lengthy commute from a majority of the other Olympic events.
After a lukewarm response to golf eight years ago in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil—a country with few golf courses—and then the no-crowd atmosphere of Japan during COVID three years ago, this was a welcome change.
“Not this,” is what McIlroy said when asked what he was expecting. “I thought the weekend it might get a few more people. I thought the first couple days might be a little bit quieter but it was awesome.
“Tokyo was a ghost town. This was much better.”
It didn’t hurt that McIlroy was in a strong group that included No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg.
Scheffler shot 67 and Aberg had 68.
“I really didn’t know what to expect,” Scheffler said. “The last couple days it’s been pretty quiet around the course. I didn’t really know what was going on so I didn't know exactly what to expect. But it was nice to play in front of a good crowd. Big crowd. It was a lot of fun. They were cheering loud for us. It was pretty fun. Was definitely not expecting that coming in. I didn’t really know what to expect but there's definitely more people than I expected.
“I didn't know what the tournament was going to be like. Going up to the 1st tee, there were a lot of people there and wearing USA gear. I talked about it a little bit before the tournament that it was going to feel more like an individual event but at times this week it didn't feel that way because we played a lot of practice rounds (with the three other Americans) and we were out there competing and cutting it up like we do.
“But then wearing the United States flag, having people chant ‘USA’ and you're here in Europe, it's a fun feeling, and it was exciting to compete today.”
Scheffler, who has won six times this year including the Masters and the Players Championship, finds himself four shots back of Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion who lost in a playoff for the bronze medal three years ago in his native Japan.
Xander Schauffele appeared to pick up where he left off less than two weeks in Scotland, where he won the British Open for his second major title of the year. He played the final round at Royal Troon without a bogey. It took him until the 17th hole to make one Thursday against seven birdies the left him two shots back.
Joaquin Niemann, Emiliano Grillo and Tom Kim are tied for third, three shots back.
Schauffele and Scheffler are two of the four Americans in the tournament, the most of any country. Collin Morikawa was well back after a 70. And 2023 U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark struggled to overcome a bogey–double bogey–bogey start, shooting 75 to finish near the bottom of the field.
“It’s a different crowd for us,” said England’s Tommy Fleetwood, who won the French Open here in 2017. “This is a real Olympic crowd and a lot of supporters that might not have watched the sport before. We had a lot of Great Britain supporters out there and that was really nice, even the fans from this country, as well, from France, being part of Europe as well helped me.
“A lot of people are on my side, and it was a great atmosphere to play in front of. We're all surprised how many people were on the first couple holes when we set out playing. The Olympics is cool. It really is.”
And that has not always been the thinking among golfers. The first Olympic Golf event in 2016 saw considerable indifference, as the top-four-ranked players in the world, including McIlroy, all skipped.
McIlroy has since expressed some regret over that, saying how much he relished being in contention for a medal three years ago.
Golf has its four major championships a year, the pinnacle of the sport. The Olympics are relatively new but slowly gaining acceptance.
Australia’s Jason Day also skipped the 2016 Olympics and was happy to have another chance.
“This is probably the most nervous I’ve been wearing a set of clothes that you look down and see the colors,” said Day, who shot 69. “The first couple holes caught me off-guard actually quite a lot. I was quite nervous standing over the first tee shot and then it took me a few holes to get over it.
“It's amazing, we're not playing for money this week obviously. We are playing for a medal and you're here kind of playing for free. But my point is it feels totally different. This is the most I've felt nervous standing on a tee box wearing a set of clothes that I’m wearing for the first time.
“It's a good feeling because it just shows that it means a lot to me, which is good. So I'm happy about it.”
Like others, Day was surprised by the gallery.
“Not that. Definitely not that,” he said, when asked what he expected. “I heard the crowd when I was on the putting green, screaming over there, and you go down the stairs, going from 1 to 2 to 3, it was impressive. It's amazing how this week, this last week and a bit, it's impressive to see how much sport brings a lot of people together.
“There's all different types of countries out there cheering their favorite players.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Hideki Matsuyama Leads Early As Players Enjoy ‘Unbelievable’ Olympic Atmosphere.
