Revealing the group of candidates for Olympic golf championship

At the end of three rounds, Schauffele is holding the top of the table at -14 points. Right behind Schaufele is the Japanese ace Matsuyama with a score of -13, while Casey (England) stands at T3 (-12) with Carlos Ortiz (Mexico).

Meanwhile, position T5 (-11) has four candidates, including two representatives from Europe – former world number one Rory McIlroy, Sepp Straka (Austria). The other two players in this group are from South America – Sebastian Munoz (Colombia) and Mito Pereira.

After T5 there are T9 (-10) and T11 (-9), a total of five players. In the top 5 after 54 holes, only Straka and Pereira have not won the PGA Tour. Considering 13 medal candidates this period, only Casey and Tommy Fleetwood in T9 with England.

In theory, Im Sung-jae still has the ability to compete for a medal, thereby being exempted from military service in Korea. However, this possibility is very low. Today, Im also hit the ceiling for an Olympic round of golf but is still seven strokes off the top of the table – T17. Because before that, he scored +1 through 36 holes on par71.

Thomas Bach – President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Jay Monahan – the most powerful leader of the PGA Tour went to the opening hole to see the final group of Schauffele-Matsuyama-Ortiz start the third round. Golf is closed to spectators, but the Japanese trump card still attracts about 250 people, most of which are volunteers.

The US team is rated strongest in Tokyo 2020 golf because four members are in the top 12 in the world, including Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Schauffele and Patrick Reed. In this lineup, Morikawa, Thomas, and Schauffele occupy the 3-5 OWGR bracket, respectively, while Reed ranks 12th.

But after three days, only Schauffele lit the door, and three teammates remained dim. Morikawa – the new major champion The Open is in the same position as Im, and Thomas and Reed are both at T38 (-4).

Schauffle led after the second round with 63 strokes – hitting the 18-hole record set by Matt Kuchar in Rio 2016 and then maintaining the position with 68 strokes in the penultimate stage today, July 31. The whole match, the German-French-Taiwanese hybrid golfer with American nationality scored five birdies and two bogeys, hit six of the 14 fairways, went to the green according to the 12-hole standard, and escaped from the bunker four times.

Schauffele born in 1993 won four PGA Tour championships after six years of professional, currently ranked fifth in the world (OWGR table).

Quoc Huy