Tokyo 2020 women’s golf opens in severe weather

With 60 competitors, the opening stage begins at 7:30 am on August 4. It all comes from hole 1.

Lexi Thompson (USA) and Yuka Saso (Philippines) kick off at 8:25. Saso had to use a temporary caddy in the first match because the main combat assistant hadn’t recovered from yesterday’s heat stroke. Saso – the reigning US Women’s Open major champion – is ranked 10th in the world (Rolex Ranking), two places above Thompson.

On hole 15, Thompson stepped to the ball to prepare for a second shot, but his own caddy Jack Fulghum stood still. “At that time, Jack was not well. He even asked ‘does my face look white?'”. Thompson mentioned above Golf Channel.

After a brief exchange, Thompson advised Jack to stay in the shade and wait for medical assistance. To “fire personnel”, she asked Donna Wilkins in charge of the US golf team to carry the bag for the last three holes. At the end of the first game, Thompson was at T36 with +1 while Saso was at T47.

The organizers announced that the maximum temperature on the Kasumigaseki field today was approximately 43 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, the PGA Tour yesterday recorded a temperature of about 37 degrees Celsius at WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational – event in Memphis, Tennessee which is recognized as the hottest in the arena.

The Tokyo 2020 organizers installed fans throughout the field to help the players cool down. Before that, they received a heat index level 4 warning – the highest level and dangerous to health. It is forecasted that it will continue to be hot near 37 degrees Celsius for the next two rounds, and the final day of the tournament may be cool thanks to the coming storm.

Former world number one, New Zealand player Lydia Ko is one hole behind Thompson. Halfway through, her caddy had to add ice to combat the heat. “He supplemented me at the teeing ground, but when I got to the green, the stone melted,” said Ko, in a drenched outfit, about the scorching atmosphere on the court, and sweat from his arms dripping down and pooling underneath. foot.

After closing the match 70 strokes, Ko entered the T16 group (-1), four strokes behind the Swedish player Madelene Sagstrom at the top of the table. Sagstrom took first place after 18 holes thanks to five birdies and no bogey. She averaged 266 yards, hit eight of the 14 fairways, and went to the green on a 10-hole standard.

One stroke away from Sagstrom is T2 (-4), including world number one American golfer Nelly Korda and new Indian representative for the second time at the Olympic Games Aditi Ashok. Both were born in 1998.

For the first time at Rio 2016, Ashok surprised the experts when he passed the first two rounds with 68 strokes. However, the remaining 36 holes, Ashok lost fire, finally standing T41 final.

Quoc Huy