Team USA’s Scottie Scheffler shot a final round of 62, including four straight birdies on the back nine, to win gold at the 2024 Olympics and continue his generational season.
Scheffler’s victory, with a score of -19, was the highlight of one of the best back-nine Sundays of the year, a day at Le Golf National outside Paris that saw many of the best players in the current game put one hand on a medal, then let it go again.
Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood (-18) won silver and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (-17) took bronze.
Paris 2024 marked the true rise of golf to the Olympic stage. The sport’s return to the Rio Olympics was marred by fears over the Zika virus, which kept many of the game’s biggest names at home, and the empty galleries in Tokyo in 2021 did little to boost the sport’s image. This year in Paris, the galleries were spread across the rolling hills of Le Golf National, and the effect was powerful.
“You don’t get that atmosphere at the Masters. It’s different. I think it’s a little bit more fun than a major. Kind of a party in a way,” Ireland’s Rory McIlroy said on Saturday. “I feel French this week, the amount of ‘Allez, Rory’ I had there. It was really cool.”
Early on, Spaniard Jon Rahm rode that Sunday momentum to the top of the leaderboard. He and 2020 gold medalist Xander Schauffele of the United States went into Le Golf National on Sunday tied at -14, with Fleetwood one stroke behind. Eleven players were within four strokes of bronze, leaving a large portion of the field in contention for a medal.
After 10 holes, Rahm appeared to have clinched gold, with a four-stroke lead over the field. But then I was reminded that the Olympics can put anyone on edge. Rahm three-putted on the par-3 11th at almost the same time that Fleetwood and Matsuyama were birdieing their holes, and suddenly the four-stroke lead became two.
One hole later, again within minutes of each other, Fleetwood birdied the 12th hole while Rahm bogeyed it, and then Rahm’s lead was gone. With six holes to go, Matsuyama trailed by one stroke at -17, and McIlroy, who had a streak of four birdies, was one stroke clear of the medal table at -16.
The most intriguing player on the back nine, at least from the perspective of the raucous gallery, was France’s Victor Perez, who ran a series of four birdies and an eagle to move within two strokes of the leader. His every move on the course was cheered by the Olympic-casual crowd, and the prospect of a medal seemed tantalizingly close.
One player of particular interest on Sunday: Tom Kim, who had a lot more to offer than just a bit of metal. If Kim had won a medal, he would have been exempt from 18 to 21 months of mandatory military service for South Korea. He came in just one stroke outside of a medal position, but eventually stumbled in the locker room and finished at -14.
First among the leaders to go: Schauffele, who bogeyed 12 and 13 to fall four strokes behind the leader. Other big winners had better luck; McIlroy’s 49-foot eagle putt on 14 finished in tap-in range, dropping him to -17 and one stroke behind the leader. Scheffler’s approach shot on the water-protected 15th island green rolled to within inches, and his tee shot on the 16th was within birdie range; two birdies later, he was tied with the leader at -18.
But McIlroy soon followed Schauffele down the leaderboard when his shot at the 15th rolled off the green and into the water, resulting in a round-killing double bogey. Behind him, Rahm struggled on the 14th and made a double bogey to fall two shots off the leader. So with four holes to go for the leaders, Scheffler and Fleetwood shared the lead at -18, with Matsuyama one behind at -17. Rahm and Perez were at -16, and McIlroy and Kim were at -15.
Perez claimed the clubhouse lead at -16 in front of a rapturous crowd, finishing with a back-nine 29. Scheffler then rolled a 17-footer at 17 for his fourth straight birdie to take the solo lead at -19. Shortly after, Fleetwood rolled a birdie of his own at 16 to even the lead. Rahm also made a long birdie at 16 to stop the back-nine bleeding and move to -17, tied with Matsuyama.
Scheffler’s birdie putt on 18 — which would have set both an Olympic and Le Golf National record — just missed the hole. He tapped in a nervous par and walked into the clubhouse with a -19 and an almost certain medal.
That left Fleetwood, Rahm and Matusyama on the course in the hunt for a medal. Matsuyama couldn’t quite close out the 18th hole with a birdie, ending the day at -17. Fleetwood’s long par putt on 17 rolled just wide, leaving him at -18 heading into the final hole. Rahm also bogeyed the hole, dropping him to -16 and out of contention for a medal.
So with one hole to go, Fleetwood needed a par for silver, a birdie to force a playoff for gold. Rahm needed a birdie to force a playoff for bronze. Fleetwood’s approach shot ran long and left, and Rahms finished well short of the flag. After Fleetwood missed his third shot, the gold medal went to Scheffler.
Rahm missed his par putt to leave him one stroke shy of the medal table. Fleetwood holed his par putt to leave him one stroke ahead of Matsuyama for silver.
