Paul Casey leads the European medal race going into the final day of the Olympic Men’s Golf Competition, with the Great Britain star two shots off the lead of American Xander Schauffele and just one behind local hero Hideki Matsuyama at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
Team Ireland pair Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry and Casey’s team mate Tommy Fleetwood are all inside the top ten and in the hunt for podium places as they aim to chase down Schauffele, who birdied the last to get to 14 under par with a round of 68, opening up a narrow lead over Masters champion Matsuyama.
Casey was one of the 16 players who returned to finish his second round on Saturday morning after a storm disrupted start to the Tokyo 2020 golf event, and he got off to a flying start after the turnaround with birdies on his opening two holes. Two more followed on the sixth and seventh, before he dropped a shot on the 14th, but a final flurry on the 17th and 18th saw him reach 12 under par to sit tied third alongside Mexican Carlos Ortiz.
The 15-time European Tour winner is in no doubt of what is at stake tomorrow. “We'll see what pans out as I come down the last few holes or something like that. But as I stand here right now I'm only thinking about one thing. This golf course is such that it's going to yield a low score from somebody every round. I think there's a load of guys out there (who can go low) - Xander with his low round yesterday, Tommy his low round today. I think if you want the gold and let's be honest that's what we're all talking about, it's what you all talk about, it's what anybody talks about.”
Four-time Major winner McIlroy is amongst a group of four players on 11 under par while the 2019 Open champion Lowry shares ninth place on ten under par with Fleetwood, who climbed the leaderboard after a seven under par round of 64.
The Team Ireland pair played together on Saturday – alongside Thai Jazz Janewattananond - and McIlroy says the camaraderie contributed to another good day on the course in Tokyo.
“It was great. We’ve had a really good week together. The atmosphere has been really relaxed and it's been a sort of throw back to the amateur days. We have been telling a lot of stories and reminiscing. We both have been pros now for over a decade and a lot's changed but it's nice to sort of go back to that and have those memories again.
“I mean you go out on a Saturday, close to the lead and shoot four under, you've done your job, I guess. I got to four under after 13 and thought I could maybe squeeze an extra couple of shots out of the round, not birdieing 14 was disappointing, but then I bounced back well after the bogey on 16 with a birdie on 17 and yeah overall a good round of golf and it keeps me there in contention.”
Italy’s Guido Migliozzi is in a tie for 11th at nine under par with Australian Cameron Smith and Abraham Ancer of Mexico, while Belgian pair Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry are one shot further back alongside Joaquin Niemann of Chile.
