We have quite an impressive leaderboard at the Olympics, with Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele setting the pace at 14-under-par through 54 holes. But plenty of household names, including Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, are within striking distance, setting the stage for what should be a thrilling Sunday at Le Golf National.
McIlroy and Scheffler are tied for sixth at 10-under after carding rounds of 66 and 67, respectively, while Hideki Matsuyama and Nicolai Højgaard are one stroke better at 11-under. Tommy Fleetwood sits in solo third at 13-under par, as the Englishman carded a 2-under 69 on Saturday.
“It’s amazing for the game to see all those sort of players up there,” McIlroy said after.
“Obviously, Xander, who has had an incredible year; Scottie, the best player in the world; you’ve got Jon Rahm, some younger players; Nicolai shooting 62 today. Yeah, it’s an amazing leaderboard and should be an exciting day on Sunday.”
McIlroy made five birdies and 13 pars to post his first bogey-free round of the week. He said he left a couple of shots out there, as he hit 17-of-18 greens in regulation. But the Ulsterman collective holed only 59 feet of his putts, good for 49th among the 60-player field on Saturday. At least he did not make any glaring miscues.
“Sort of getting a little better each and every day,” McIlroy added.
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“The story of the first two days were the mistakes. Today, I went out with the mindset of trying to limit those mistakes, which I did. It was a really solid round of golf and puts me in contention for a medal tomorrow.”
Scheffler, meanwhile, also has a chance to medal on Sunday, but like McIlroy, he will need to shoot in the mid 60s to make the podium.
“I feel like I haven’t had my best stuff the last few days but I’ve done enough to hang in there and stay in the tournament. Around this course, you can get hot. You saw Nicolai had a really nice round today, and I’m going to need something like that tomorrow if I’m going to be holding a medal,” Scheffler explained.
“Yeah, just look looking forward to [Sunday]; getting off to a good start. I’ve birdied the first hole the last two days, and I haven’t really been able to ride the momentum throughout the round. Keep trying to execute and put myself in spots and hope to see some putts go in.”
Once again, Scheffler’s putter has gone cold, much like it did at Royal Troon during The Open Championship. He has lost nearly three strokes to the field on the greens, which ranks 47th. But if he can get his putter to cooperate somewhat on Sunday, Scheffler has a real chance to contend again. He ranks first in strokes gained approaching the green and seventh in strokes gained off the tee, proof that he is hitting the ball beautifully.
But plenty of other players have hit the ball well too.
Jason Day, Ludvig Åberg, and Joaquin Niemann sit one stroke behind Scheffler and McIlroy at 9-under. Four players, including Frenchman Victor Perez, are 8-under, but the group at eight might be too far back considering the top-heavy leaderboard that this competition has produced. Yet, we saw Højgaard shoot a 62 on Saturday, so anything is possible.
Regardless, with all of these household names on the leaderboard, there is only one guarantee: Sunday’s final round at the Olympics will be a thriller, no matter who takes the gold, silver, and bronze.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
