Brooke Henderson has uphill climb for Olympic medal contention at Paris Games
Canadian shoots 1-over par to sit 11 strokes back of leader
Brooke Henderson has plenty of work to do to get herself onto the podium in France — and her job got much more difficult after finding water on the 18th hole of her second round. One day after saving her opening round with an eagle at the par-5 closing hole at Le Golf National, the Canadian star sailed her second shot over the green and into the water hazard on Thursday, finishing her day with a bogey to shoot a one-over par 73 and head to the weekend at three-over par, 11 strokes back of the lead.
At the top of the leaderboard through two rounds at Le Golf National is Swiss golfer Morgane Metraux, who vaulted into first place in the women’s Olympic competition on the strength of a front nine for the ages during Thursday’s second-round play. With two eagles and four birdies, Metraux shot an incredible eight-under through nine holes to get her round off to a blazing start. Despite a two-over par 38 on the back nine for a six-under 66, Metraux leads the field in France at eight-under and will begin the third round in the lead.
“I was really calm. I knew my game is in a good spot and I was rolling it well. Yeah, it was actually surprisingly very calm starting the round,” she said of her incredible front nine. “I actually tried not to think about it. Just keep doing the same things. “The swing didn’t feel quite as good on the back nine, and on those short holes, if you get slightly off line, it gets really tricky. The rough is really thick and the greens are really firm. It’s not that I played worse, just one or two shots that cost me a few.”
Metraux has a one-stroke lead over China’s Ruoning Yin, who shot an Olympic women’s record 65 to head into the final two rounds at seven-under. Lydia Ko is the biggest name to make it relatively unscathed through two rounds, following a level-par opening round with a five-under 67 on Thursday to sit in third place, three strokes back of Metraux. The New Zealand golfer needs a gold medal to complete her collection, having won a silver at Rio 2016 and a bronze in Tokyo three years ago.
“Honestly this golf course is so hard, it’s hard to think about the other things because I’m just trying to shoot the best score I can around here,” Ko said after her round. “I think this is the toughest golf course we’ve played in the past three Games, and all of them had very different characteristics. “But this one, you could shoot a really low score if you’re on but at the same time it can get away from you, as well.” The women’s golf event kept teasing a star-studded leaderboard, but the tricky Le Golf National course had a different plan for many of them, including the world No. 1.
American Nelly Korda worked her way into second place on Thursday at six-under before a quadruple bogey at the par-3 16th shook her round. Bringing back memories of her disastrous 10 at the U.S. Women’s Open earlier this summer, Korda found water off the tee on the 16th, then found a bunker, then bladed a sand shot, then took three more shots to get into the hole. It all added up to seven strokes at the 136-yard par 3, dropping her down the leaderboard.
“Just a series of unfortunate events happened in a row, but I ended on a birdie and made a wonder put after leaving myself in not the easiest of positions on the right side of the green having to go almost through the sprinkler heads,” she said after shooting a two-under 70. “Overall, I still shot under par. I’m going to try and take the positive.”
Korda is tied for 12th at two-under for the week, along with young star Rose Zhang. First-round leader Celine Boutier carries the hopes of host nation France, but the 30-year-old followed Wednesday’s seven-under 65 with a four-over 76 on Thursday. Boutier remains in contention at three-under through 36 holes. “Emotionally it was fine. Definitely feel like I left a few shots out there,” Boutier said. “Had a rough patch in the back and didn’t really make as many birdie putts as I did (Wednesday). So definitely reflected in the score.” After a solid opening round of one-under 71, Canada’s Alena Sharp shot a four-over 76 on Thursday and heads to the weekend tied for 29th with Henderson at three-over.
