For the second day in a row it looked as though Corey Conners was going to walk off the Olympic golf course with a bad taste in his mouth, but dinner in Paris will taste a little better on Friday.
One day after bogeying his final hole of the opening round, Conners faced a 26-foot par putt on the difficult 18th hole to avoid the same fate in his second round. The Canadian rolled in the long putt to save his par and head to the weekend at five-under par in the Olympic men’s golf competition, in solid position to make a push for a medal over the final two days.
Conners shot a second round two-under 69 at Le Golf National course 40 km southwest of Paris, and finds himself in a group of five golfers tied for 13th place that includes major champions Jason Day from Australia and Great Britain’s Matt Fitzpatrick.
The 32-year-old from Listowel, Ont. only dropped one shot on Friday, making a bogey at the par-4 17th hole to go against three birdies.
Everyone in the field is chasing the three men tied at the top at 11-under: 2020 Olympic gold medal winner American Xander Schauffele, former Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama from Japan, and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood.
“When you’re in good form, all of us know that it’s all about just making the correct decision and executing the shot and rinse and repeating that process,” said 2024 double major champ Schauffele after his round. “So don’t let too much try and bother you, and if you do hit a bad shots, it’s easier to accept it because you know you’re playing really good golf and you can make it up somewhere else. In that sort of zone.”
With plenty of water hazards at Le Golf National, the Olympic golf tournament is turning into target practice for the world’s best ball strikers, who through two rounds find themselves dominating the leaderboard.
“I’ve played it enough to understand sort of how the golf course plays,” said Fleetwood, one of the game’s best pure hitters of the golf ball. “It’s an amazing tee shot and approach shot golf course.”
Conners certainly falls into that same category, although the sweet-swinging Canadian’s trademark iron game wasn’t quite as sharp on Friday as it was on Thursday when he hit six approach shots within 10 feet of the hole and finished second in strokes-gained approaching the greens. On Friday, Conners dropped to 50th in that category, but made up for it by getting up-and-down for par four of the five times he missed the green. Conners also stayed out of trouble with his drives and finished fifth in strokes-gained off the tee on Friday.
Spaniard Jon Rahm sits in solo fourth place, two strokes behind the trio of leaders, shooting a five-under 66 on Friday to reach nine-under.
“It’s a fantastic golf course, a fantastic venue, beyond perfect weather. We are not going to see anything better in a long time, I don’t think, sunshine and very little wind,” said the LIV Golf superstar. “And it’s good to come back to a world stage and put myself in position. The Open I was there, but I wasn’t quite close enough to have a chance on Sunday.”
Rahm had plenty of support from the fans at Le Golf National, which have been more robust than many expected.
“Spanish crowd travels really well, especially being as close as we are to Spain, right. It’s an easy commute to Paris. Easy drive and you can even do train rides or flight, right. So it’s very easy to get here,” Rahm said. “In general, the reception I had on the first two days has been larger than I expected. … Makes me really happy to perform well for them and on a stage like this.”
Canadian Nick Taylor bogeyed his final two holes to shoot a two-over 73 on Friday, and heads to the weekend at one-over for the tournament.
