Schauffele leads

Two double bogeys! Sepp Straka falls far behind

Sepp Straka

(Bild: AFP or licensors)

Golfer Sepp Straka fell out of contention for the Olympic medals on Friday. After a starting round of 67, the native of Vienna only managed a 74 on Friday at Le Golf National southwest of Paris. 

The 31-year-old is therefore on one under par at the halfway stage of the tournament, is only 35th and is ten shots behind the leading trio. US defending champion Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama from Japan and Britain's Tommy Fleetwood are in front with 131 strokes each.

Straka only managed two birdies this time (on holes 9 and 14). In addition to a bogey, the Ryder Cup winner even made two double bogeys on holes 12 and 18, where he had made stroke gains on Thursday. A water shot on the final hole was to blame for the misery. "If it flies a meter further, it rolls nicely towards him, is maybe five meters there and he has the birdie. So it's a double bogey," said ÖGV Sports Director Niki Zitny. For Straka, precious metal seems out of reach, but he is not giving up just yet.

"Need two incredible rounds" 
"I need two more incredible rounds," said Straka. "It's certainly still possible because I've had a lot of birdie putts over the last few days. But you just have to convert them. Hopefully I can find something over the next few days where I hole a few putts and play two deep rounds." Zitny took a similar view: "What he definitely needs are two super-super dream rounds - which he can do, no question. Maybe he'll have a bit more luck in the next two days."

Straka said he had "putted horribly". "I didn't hole a putt, maybe one outside one and a half or two meters. I hit the ball quite well again. It could have been another good round, but unfortunately not with the weak putting." You can play deep rounds on the course if you hit the ball well, he said. "I did that the last two days, but didn't convert anything. I will try to convert the birdie putts as well as I can. When the putter gets hot, a lot is still possible."

Xander Schauffele

(Bild: AFP)

Schauffele leads
He was disappointed, as he had actually played well again. Three years ago at his Olympic debut in Tokyo, the winner of two PGA tournaments finished in tenth place. However, Matsuyama and Fleetwood in the flight before Straka showed that even the top players in the ranking have weaknesses with a double bogey and bogey on the last hole, which gave Schauffele the shared lead. Straka: "There is a lot of water, especially on the last few holes. If you hit good shots, you can make the birdie, but you can also easily concede the double bogey."