Scottie Scheffler Wins Olympic Gold Medal, Tommy Fleetwood Wins Silver

August 4, 2024

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Scottie Scheffler Wins Olympic Gold Medal, Tommy Fleetwood Wins Silver

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — It’s hard to forget World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler when he’s on the golf course, but by mid-afternoon Sunday, it seemed like it was over. The men’s Olympic golf competition was in the hands of Jon Rahm. A four-stroke lead with seven holes to go. Get the medal ready.

But Scheffler was there at Le Golf National. And the gold medal wasn’t hanging around anyone’s neck yet.

The world’s best player shot 6-under 29 on the back nine and added to his resume with a brilliant and challenging 9-under 62 to become only the third man to win an individual gold medal for the United States at these Games.

Scheffler equalled the course record of Le Golf National with his final round, beating the Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who was in first place with Scheffler at the last moment. However, he made a bogey on hole 17 and played it safe on hole 18.

In the battle for bronze, Japan’s Hideki Matsuayama shot a closing round 65 to finish on 17-under-par, two strokes behind Scheffler and one behind Fleetwood. France’s Victor Perez shot a back-nine 29 to storm back from the pack but finished one stroke shy of a podium finish.

Perhaps Scheffler’s electrifying Sunday comes as no surprise. At the Open Championship in Scotland two weeks ago, he spent four rounds looking poised to make a string of birdies and win the tournament. Instead, lip-outs and a series of short missed putts left him tied for seventh. It was more of the same from Thursday to Saturday this week, but Scheffler still managed rounds of 67, 69 and 67 as the likes of Rahm and Open winner Xander Schauffele swept the competition.

Instead, the Legend of Scheffler has grown. The 29-year-old has now won two of the last three Masters and 14 of his last 59 starts, with another 20 top-five finishes. The scary thing, for everyone out there, is that he’s seemingly getting better. Scheffler has won seven of his last 11 outings, all in majors or signature events with limited fields.

With each passing week, the gap between Scheffler and the rest of the pack seems to widen. Scheffler had birdie putts on Nos. 14, 15 and 16 that combined to be 10 feet, 10 inches long and made them all. On No. 17, he had a tough second shot out of the rough but showed off his next-level iron play to put himself 17 feet for birdie and push himself into the lead.

Now he has a gold medal to his name, becoming the third American male golfer to do so, following Schauffele in Tokyo 2020 and Charles Sands in 1900, and also winning in Paris.

For Rahm, Sunday’s meltdown will live long in his mind. The entire day felt at one point like a signal to his heroes — Seve Ballesteros, José María Olazábal — who never had an Olympic chance. Rahm was supposed to win for Spain and signal his return to his place among the game’s best. Instead, a four-stroke lead was wiped out by bogeys on 11 and 12 and a series of nerve-wracking swings that followed. He double-bogeyed the par-5 14th, got one back on 16 and bogeyed 17 to miss a shot at bronze.

“I can’t remember the last time I played a tournament and felt this – I don’t know what the word is because, you know, I feel like not only did I let myself down, but I didn’t do it for the entire country of Spain. It’s much more painful than I would like,” Rahm said.

Fleetwood, perhaps the best player in golf without a major, had a chance to deliver a career-defining day. The 33-year-old tied for the lead on 17 but hit an approach long and was met with a daunting chip that he drove wide of the hole. The bogey cost him the top spot. He needed a birdie on 18 but hit an approach long left, blowing away that chance. He went up and down to secure silver.

Schauffele, who started the day in a tie for the lead, had a rare bad day, shooting a 73 (two over par) to finish in a tie for ninth place.

Perhaps the biggest winner this week was golf as an Olympic sport. After being swept off the calendar following its inclusion in the 1900 and 1904 Games, the sport returned in 2016 but struggled to gain any momentum. The Rio Games were distant and disconnected, while the 2020 Tokyo Games were played in the grip of a pandemic.

Paris changed the narrative. Huge crowds all three days, genuine Olympic energy and a star-studded leaderboard proved that the sport has a place in the Games. With the possibility of a mixed team play element being added for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, there is a chance that golf will finally catch on and stick. Those 2028 Games will be played at Riviera Country Club.

“I still think the Ryder Cup is the best tournament we have in our game, pure competition, and I think this has the potential to be up there as well. I think with as much of a (expletive) show the game of golf is at the moment and you think about the two tournaments that are perhaps the purest form of competition in our game, we’re not playing for money,” said fifth-place finisher Rory McIlroy.