Xander Schauffele shot a brilliant eight under par round of 63 to take a one shot lead during the storm-delayed second round of the Olympic Men’s Golf Competition.
The American added a sixth birdie on the 18th to a card that also included two eagles and two bogies to get to 11 under par, seconds before play was suspended for the day at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
Carlos Ortiz of Mexico is currently his nearest challenger at ten under par, with Sweden’s Alex Noren amongst four players two shots further back, including Masters champion and local hero Hideki Matsuyama, who has two holes to complete when round two resumes on Saturday morning.
It was a good day for Team Ireland, with Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy shooting rounds of 65 and 66 respectively to get to seven under par, alongside Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand and Great Britain’s Paul Casey, who also had two holes to finish when play was halted for the second time in the round due to storms around the Tokyo venue.
“I just got in a nice flow there at the end. Kind of one of those situations where I wish I could play some more holes. It was nice to make that last putt on 18 before the they blew that horn,” said four-time PGA TOUR winner Schauffele.
“The almost two and a half hour delay during the middle of the day here, it is what it is, everyone had to deal with it, some people had a delay yesterday and today so fortunately I've only had one delay and potentially we'll have more throughout the week. I bogeyed my first hole coming out of the delay, wasn't in a great spot and was able to make a birdie quickly right after to sort of settle the ship. So yeah, happy with how I finished.”
Noren feels like he is playing for the whole of Sweden after firing consecutive rounds of 67 to stay within touching distance of back to back men’s Olympic golf medals for his country, after Henrik Stenson took silver in Rio five years ago.
“It feels like the first time I actually played for the country,” said the 2018 Ryder Cup star. “Even World Cup you play for your partner, you play for the Federation, you play for the golfers in Sweden. And now, I mean, if somebody wins fencing or swimming, everybody wants those medals and I think it's a cool thing.
“The longer the tournament goes it feels more like the Olympics. Coming into the weekend, it's kind of like a weird tournament because the only thing that matters are the medals. I think it's cool to have a tournament like this and being such a big tournament. Usually you play for points, somebody needs their card, somebody wants to advance into the finals, somebody needs this and this and all of a sudden it's like top three, otherwise it's not much worth.”
The Major-winning duo of Lowry and McIlroy are also relishing the chance to get on the podium in Tokyo and beyond after both members of Team Ireland moved into contention on Friday.
“You're trying to spur each other on and between us we're definitely trying to produce at least one medal for the team,” said 2019 Open Champion Lowry.
“I would like to see Rory do well, because we're Team Ireland. But it's different Sunday afternoon if you're out there playing against each other you want to beat each other. My number one motivation, it's not to come here and enjoy the Olympics - obviously I am enjoying it - but my ultimate goal is to bring a medal home.”
“I’ve obviously never competed in an Olympic games,” added McIlroy. “I watched them from a far, but I said this yesterday, being a part of something that's completely different and bigger than me and even our sport in general, that's a pretty cool thing. So I didn't know if this was going to be my only Olympics that I play or whatever and I'm already looking forward to Paris (in 2024).”
