On a day when the back nine leaderboard hardly moved, Rory McIlroy shot himself into contention at Le Golf National in Paris with a five-birdie blitz. However, his dreams of winning an Olympic gold were dashed at the fifteenth hole when he mishandled a wedge.
Ultimately, Scottie Scheffler’s incredible final round of 62 gave him a 19-under par total, good for the victory over England’s Tommy Fleetwood, who was only one shot behind on 18 under. The United States had once again taken home the gold. Despite suffering numerous injuries during the intense afternoon battle, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan managed to secure third place and the bronze.
A frustrated McIlroy, who tied for fifth after the round, became his own worst critic.
He remarked, “I feel like I’ve been golf’s nearly man for the last three years.”
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“I want things to change, and the nearly man will once again be winning golf championships. Saying, “I’m close, I’m close, I’m close,” is fine, but I need to get over that barrier and convert these near-misses and near-calls into victories.
Did you think McIlroy was being questioned here?
Indeed. Indeed, the world number three answered.
After making two birdies in the first three holes of his final round, McIlroy played consistent golf until the turn. Subsequently, he reached his peak from the tenth to the fourteenth hole, making five straight birdies, a 6-iron to reach the 12-foot mark, and a 20-foot putt to continue the momentum on the following hole.
McIlroy advanced to tie third on 17 under, showing that he didn’t just nibble at the field—rather, he took a huge chunk out of it. The pricey fifteenth followed.
The slightest of errors in judgement prevented him from continuing, with a wedge in his hands and water in front of the green. He pitched well past the hole from the drop zone, failed to hole the challenging long putt, and made double bogey.
After making birdies on holes 10 and 11, McIlroy remarked, “I looked at the board and I was -14 and Jon [Rahm] had got to -20.” In other words, I didn’t think I had much of a chance. After making a birdie on hole 14, I glanced at the board once again and realised I was one behind. I was like, “Holy crap, what just happened?”
“I made the shot I wanted to make, even with that wedge on 15.” Nicolai [Hojgaard] and Hideki [Matsuyama], the two boys in front of me, kicked their balls up a little higher, and the wind carried it. They went twenty-five or thirty feet beyond, so I made the shot I wanted to make; I simply didn’t get the ball airborne long enough for the wind to take it the final three or four yards.
However, I made an effort to maintain my aggressiveness and place the wedge between the front edge and the hole. I probably missed my location by three or four yards, and I will not be getting a medal as a result.
Rahm, who was comfortably leading the leaderboard, lost four strokes in four holes on the back nine to take the lead. The Spaniard’s short four-foot putt for bogey on the par-5 14th went just as far past, setting him a double bogey seven that left him looking at the hole with pure hatred.
Scheffler and Fleetwood of England were left to fight to see who would flinch first. With four birdies at holes 14, 15, 16, and 17, Scheffler set the pace and nearly equalled McIlroy’s run. His fourth birdie left him on 19-under par, one shot ahead with only the 18th hole remaining.
Scheffler comfortably navigated the river in front of the green to complete his round, even though he found the rough on 18, and he challenged Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama to conjure up some magic.
On the seventeenth hole, Fleetwood made a mistake by taking a big chip from the fringe that cost him a bogey while Scheffler continued to hit balls on the range. Need not have existed; the American ended one stroke ahead, leaving
McIlroy to ponder what could have been.
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