Golf drama in Tokyo: Schauffele holds his nerve and takes gold. Sensational silver for Slovakia! The bronze was decided by a shootout

A really beautiful and dramatic denouement brought the end of the final round of the Olympic golf tournament in the men’s category. The Slovak fans in particular had a pleasant morning celebrating a sensational silver medal. The gold goes to America, while the bronze badge had to be decided in a shootout. The Czech representative did not do well at all.

The final passage of the golf tournament offered a dramatic spectacle until the very end. Before Sunday’s competition, the best was American Xander Schauffele, who entered the final round with a one-shot lead over the winner of the last Masters, Hideki Matsuyama.

However, the biggest highlight and sensation of the second round was South African Rory Sabbatini in Slovakian colours. He married his Slovakian partner seven years ago, whom he met in the USA, and took Slovakian citizenship in 2018.

Three years later in the final Olympic round, he played an incredible 61 shots(-10), the best ever in four rounds. That catapulted him to the silver medal, although he was still even in contention for gold until Schauffele’s last putt on 18.

Xander Schauffele played a -4 in the final round. He worked up the most sweat on the 14th hole when he blasted the ball through the trees into the woods. The organizers couldn’t find his lost shot for a long time, so the American player had to play a provisional ball just in case. He eventually found his original one, but thanks to a bogey he gave his opponents a chance.

However, he took the lead back by one shot on the 17th hole thanks to a birdie. He was able to hold on to it. He then made a par putt on the last to seal the golden joy.

AN UNUSUAL BATTLE FOR BRONZE

But the tournament was far from over with the silverware. In normal golf tournaments, it is common for more than one player to share second or third place. Only at the Olympics, the medal sets are only one shade from each set.

Seven players – Morikawa (USA) , Munoz (COL), Pan (TWN), Pereira (CHL), Casey (ANG), Matsuyama (JPN) and McIlroy (IRL) – were tied for a share of third place on a score of -15.

Other players gradually dropped out on subsequent holes in a sudden death system until only the pair of Morikawa and Pan remained in contention for bronze. The former, however, subsequently buried his ball awkwardly into a bunker, opening the way for Cheng-tsung Pan to take bronze.

If there is one person who definitely failed in the Olympic tournament in Tokyo, it will be the only Czech representative Ondřej Lieser. In his debut under the five rings he finished clearly last with a total score of +10. He was most troubled in the second round, where he played six shots over par.

Source: Livesport