How did Team USA golfers perform at Paris Olympics 2024 Day 1?

The first round of golf for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games concluded on Thursday, August 1 at Le Golf National. Three of the Team USA members had strong finishes and are in contention after the first 18 holes.

Xander Schauffele leads the group of U.S. representatives at the Paris Olympics Golf. Schauffele finished the round in second place, two shots behind leader Hideki Matsuyama.

Schauffele had seven birdies and one bogey to finish at 6-under. The performance keeps the American in contention to retain his title from three years ago in Tokyo.

Scottie Scheffler finished the first round of Olympic golf with four birdies and no bogeys for a score of 4-under. He is tied for sixth with seven other players, including Spain's Jon Rahm.

Collin Morikawa carded two birdies and a bogey to finish at 1-under. That leaves him in a share of T29 with Viktor Hovland, among others.

Wyndham Clark, meanwhile, carded two double bogeys, three bogeys and two birdies to finish the round at 4-over. Clark is tied for the second-to-last spot on the leaderboard at T56.

Schauffele has a 3:55 a.m. (Eastern time) tee time for round two. Scheffler will tee off at 6:06 a.m. ET, Morikawa at 4:11 a.m. ET and Clark at 5:44 a.m. ET.

A look at the Olympic golf leaderboard after the first round

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama leads the Paris 2024 Olympic Golf event after the first round. Matsuyama carded eight birdies and no bogeys for an 8-under 63.

Here is the top 20 leaderboard after the first round of the Olympic golf event:

1 Hideki Matsuyama -8
2 Xander Schauffele -6
T3 Joaquín Niemann -5
T3 Emiliano Grillo -5
T3 Tom Kim -5
T6 Alex Noren -4
T6 Ryan Fox -4
T6 Tommy Fleetwood -4
T6 Sepp Straka -4
T6 Scottie Scheffler -4
T6 Sami Välimäki -4
T6 Erik van Rooyen -4
T6 Jon Rahm -4
T14 Matti Schmid -3
T14 Alejandro Tosti -3
T14 Corey Conners -3
T14 Rory McIlroy -3
T14 Ludvig Åberg -3
T14 Guido Migliozzi -3
T14 Carlos Ortiz -3

As for the local players, Victor Perez tied for 29th on 1 under, while Matthieu Pavon tied for 42nd on even par.

In addition to Wyndham Clark, a number of other top players finished the first round at the bottom of the leaderboard. Min Woo Lee tied for 59th on 5 over, while Adrian Meronk tied for 49th on 2 over.

The Paris 2024 golf event will be held at Le Golf National from August 1 to 10. The men will play until August 4, while the women will play from August 7 to 10.

It is the third time in a row that golf is part of the Olympic program. Justin Rose won the men's event in 2016 and Xander Schauffele in 2021. Golf was previously included in the 1900 and 1904 editions.

About the author

Julio is a Golf specialist for Sportskeeda and boasts immense experience across sports and professions. Having practiced law for 15 years, he then moved to Cuban and International media houses such as Juventud Tecnica Magazine and teleSUR on baseball, track & field and boxing, among other sports, before taking up his current position. He even received an Honorary Mention in the 2023 Cuban National Journalism Contest.

Julio enjoys keeping up with everything that happens in the golf world, which helps him develop interesting angles for even the most mundane stories. What separates him from other journalists is that he has an eye for stats, and is proficient in both Spanish and English. His legal background helps him accurately report non-sporting golf issues such as rules analysis, contract issues, etc.

He ensures complete accuracy in his articles by only consulting primary sources, verifying information from multiple sources, and always looking for diverse opinions.

Nelly Korda is his favorite golfer due to her pure talent, while he also likes Alison Lee for her perseverance. His non-golf interests include baseball and track & field, while he also enjoys watching TV.

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Edited by Tushar Bahl