US-American celebrates

Golf gold to Sheffler, Sepp Straka in 35th place

Scottie Scheffler won the gold medal.

(Bild: AFP/APA/Emmanuel DUNAND)

Sepp Straka finished the golf tournament at the Olympic Games in 35th place. After dropping back on rounds two and three, the Austrian was unable to make up ground on the final day and lost another position. The man of the day was American Scottie Scheffler, who took gold ahead of Great Britain's Tommy Fleetwood (266) and Hideki Matsuyama (267) from Japan thanks to a furious final round of 62 and a total of 265 strokes.

Straka, who got off to a promising start on Thursday with a strong 67 and sixth place, finished his second Olympic appearance with an unspectacular 71 par round with two birdies and two bogeys. The 31-year-old was therefore a long way from the medal he had hoped for and was also unable to match his good tenth place from Tokyo 2021 at Le Golf National not far from Versailles.

Sepp Straka

(Bild: GEPA)

"I'm not really satisfied. I would have hoped for more, especially with the putting. I just didn't take my chances," said the Viennese. Nevertheless, he was able to take positives from his second Olympic participation: "The family and many fans from Austria were there. It was a great atmosphere."

Straka is already heading back to his adopted home of the USA on Monday, where he will be competing in the opening round of the PGA Tour Play-offs in Memphis after a week's break. The 2028 Olympic Games will also be held in the States. Straka hopes to be back in Los Angeles: "Hopefully I'll still be playing well enough then. That's definitely a goal."

The 28-year-old Scheffler, number one in the world golf rankings, was one of the first favorites to reach the clubhouse in the lead. Scheffler then retreated to the driving range, preferring not to follow the action on a screen. It was there that his caddy finally informed him of his triumph, his seventh tournament win of the season - including the prestigious Masters in Augusta for the second time. "It was a long, challenging week. I played some great golf today. I'm very proud to go home with the medal," said Scheffler.

Rahm gives away comfortable lead
Meanwhile, Spaniard Jon Rahm was the tragic figure. He pulled away from the competition on Sunday afternoon and led by four strokes, with Scheffler even further ahead. But this eventually turned into a four-shot deficit. Rahm made four bogeys on the last seven holes and even a double bogey on the 14th hole. The Olympics obviously won't bring Rahm any luck. In 2016, he was not selected by the Spanish for the Rio Games, and five years later he missed the Tokyo Games because he was not allowed to enter Japan due to a positive Covid test.