Scottie Scheffler must have arrived in Paris in a panic. It was, after all, more than a month since he won the last of six 2024 tournaments. It turned out the world No 1 had no reason to fret; with a stunning Sunday back nine of 29, for a round of 62, he added Olympic gold to his remarkable CV. Tommy Fleetwood was the latest player to be nudged into second place by the 28-year-old’s brilliance. Scheffler took main honours but it was unquestionably Fleetwood who captured hearts and minds here.
“There is part of me that is disappointed but I never dreamt I would be an Olympic medallist so I am unbelievably proud and happy with how the week went,” Fleetwood said. “Standing on that podium with a medal was one of the most special moments I have ever had.”
Scheffler, whose 19-under total pipped Fleetwood by one, became the latest athlete to be reduced to tears by the playing of his national anthem. This looked uncharacteristic. Hideki Matsuyama, Masters champion in 2021, secured bronze for Japan at minus 17.
“I am proud to be American, I got emotional watching the ceremony for the women’s gymnastics,” Scheffler said. “I take great pride in being here representing my country. This is one I will remember for a long time. My parents taught me from a young age what it meant to be American.”
This was arguably the finest day of the golf season to date. It snap, crackled and popped from the outset. The International Olympic Committee would have cause to leave this discipline at Golf National in perpetuity. Scheffler made birdie on two of this course’s treacherous last three holes.
It was left to Rory McIlroy to adeptly sum up proceedings. “Amazing,” he said of the Olympic scene. “We were talking about it out there, Nicolai [Højgaard] reckons it’s the best tournament he’s ever been involved in and he has played a Ryder Cup.
“I still think that the Ryder Cup is the best tournament that we have in our game, pure competition, and I think this has the potential to be right up there with it.
“With how much of a shitshow the game of golf is right now, you think about the two tournaments that might be the purest form of competition in our sport, we don’t play for money in them.
“So it speaks volumes for what’s important in sport. I think every single player this week has had an amazing experience.”
By the time Jon Rahm had birdied the 10th, he led the field by four. He had been three ahead of Fleetwood and Matsuyama at the turn. Rahm was to wobble – and some – thereafter. He dropped shots at the 11th and 12th before making a double bogey at the par-five 14th. The Spaniard was unable to recover, finishing in a share of fifth with McIlroy.
“I not only feel like I let myself down but to just not get it done for the whole country of Spain, it’s a lot more painful than I would like it to be,” Rahm said.
There had been a McIlroy charge. He reeled off five birdies in a row from the 10th – including after the shot of the day in approach to the 12th – before finding water with a short iron in to the 15th. McIlroy slumped with hands on knees, perfectly aware of what the penalty stroke would do to his medal aspirations.
“I looked at the board after 10 or 11, I was 14 under and Jon had got to 20,” McIlroy said. “I didn’t feel like I had a chance. Then I looked at the board again after I birdied 14 and I was one behind. I was like: ‘Holy shit, what just happened?’
“I hit the shot I wanted to hit at the 15th but I didn’t get the ball in the air enough for the wind to carry it the extra three or four yards I needed to. Tried to stay aggressive and land a wedge between the front edge and the hole, missed my spot by nearly three or four yards and that ended up costing me a medal.”
McIlroy advocates a mixed team element in future Olympics, as well as traditional individual competition, which appears very much on the table. Victor Perez whipped up what was already a rousing atmosphere by flying through the field. The Frenchman, like Scheffler, came home in 29. Perez finished just one shot outside the medals. The crowd roared his name all the way to the clubhouse.
Scheffler rarely commands such adulation. He just wins, time and again. Olympic golf has a champion that justifies its very existence.
