As usual, it was up to Rory McIlroy to summarise the events in a competent manner. “Amazing,” he said of the Olympic scene. “We were talking about it out there, Nicolai [Højgaard] thinks it’s the best tournament he’s ever played in and he’s played a Ryder Cup.
“I still think the Ryder Cup is the best tournament we have in our game, pure competition, and I think this has the potential to be as good as that.
“With how bad golf is right now, you think about the two tournaments that are perhaps the purest form of competition in our sport, we’re not playing for money. So it speaks volumes about what’s important in the sport. I think every player had a great experience this week.”
Scottie Scheffler must have arrived in Paris in a panic. After all, it had been more than a month since he won the last of six tournaments in 2024. As it turned out, the world No. 1 had no reason to worry; with a stunning back nine of 29 on Sunday, for a round of 62, he added Olympic gold to his remarkable resume. Tommy Fleetwood was the latest player to be pushed into second place by Scheffler’s brilliance. Scheffler took the top honours, but it was undoubtedly Fleetwood who won hearts and minds here.
“There’s a part of me that’s disappointed, but I never thought I’d be an Olympic medalist, so I’m incredibly proud and happy with how the week went,” Fleetwood said. “Standing on that podium with a medal was one of the most special moments I’ve ever experienced.”
Scheffler, whose 19-under total beat Fleetwood by one, became the latest athlete to be moved to tears by the playing of his national anthem. It looked unusual. Hideki Matsuyama secured Japan bronze at minus 17.
“I’m proud to be an American, I got emotional watching the women’s gymnastics ceremony,” Scheffler said. “I’m proud to be here representing my country. This is one I’ll remember for a long time. My parents taught me at a young age what it means to be an American.”
This was perhaps the best day of the golf season so far. It crackled, popped and popped from the start. The International Olympic Committee should leave this discipline at Golf National forever. Scheffler birdied two of the last three treacherous holes on this course.
By the time Jon Rahm birdied the 10th, he led the field by four. He was three shots ahead of Fleetwood and Matsuyama at the turn. Rahm would then falter – and then some – and then some. He dropped strokes at the 11th and 12th before double-bogeying the par-five 14th. The Spaniard could not recover and finished tied for fifth with McIlroy.
“Not only do I feel like I let myself down, but the fact that I didn’t do it for the whole of Spain is much more painful than I would like,” said Rahm.
There had been a McIlroy charge. He birdied five straight from the 10th – including the stroke of the day leading up to the 12th – before finding water with a short iron at the 15th. McIlroy collapsed, hands on his knees, fully aware of what the penalty stroke would do to his medal aspirations.
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“I looked at the board after 10 or 11, I was 14 under and Jon was up to 20,” McIlroy said. “I didn’t feel like I had a shot. Then I looked at the board again after I birdied 14 and I was down one. I thought, ‘Holy shit, what just happened?’
“I hit the ball I wanted to hit on the 15th, but I couldn’t get it up far enough for the wind to carry it the extra 10 or 12 feet I needed. I tried to stay aggressive and land a wedge between the face of the hole and missed my spot by almost 10 or 12 feet, and that ended up costing me a medal.”
McIlroy is advocating for a mixed team element at future Olympic Games, in addition to the traditional individual competition, which is certainly a possibility.
Victor Perez added to the already exciting atmosphere by flying over the field. The Frenchman, like Scheffler, crossed the finish line in 29. Perez finished just one stroke outside the medals. The crowd chanted Perez’s name all the way to the clubhouse.
Scheffler rarely gets such adulation. He simply wins, time and time again. Olympic golf has a champion who justifies its existence.