Swiss Miss charges up Paris Olympic leaderboard as Indians stay in the hunt
Morgane Metraux of Switzerland fired an astonishing 8 under on the front nine to hold a one-stroke lead over the Paris Olympics women’s golf field with Indians Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar sharing 14th place.
- Aug 9, 2024,
- Updated Aug 9, 2024 4:51 PM IST
Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux returned a 6 under par 66 that was built on an astonishing front nine blitz to take a one-stroke lead into Moving Day at the women’s Olympic golf competition in Paris on Thursday.
Strokes were added and deducted in dizzying fashion as Metraux opening the second day with an 8 under front nine before slowing down, second placed Yin Rouning equalled the ladies course record with a 7 under 65 and world number one Nelly Korda dropped a quadruple bogey 7 on a par three to fall right off the pace for a second Olympic gold.
In all the mayhem, Aditi Ashok battled back from an opening day disappointment to share 14th place on 1 under par 143 with Diksha Dagar and with the course exacting a heavy price from adventurous golfers, every player within reach of the top will feel she has a medal chance. Diksha in fact would have been in the top 10 but for a closing double bogey after playing faultless golf for 17 holes.
On Thursday, Aditi had four birdies in a row from holes 6 to 9 but dropped three shots on either side of the turn, while Diksha was 3 under till the 18th hole when she messed up her third shot and then three-putted for a double-bogey 7, So far, the two Indians have given up four shots in two days on Le Golf National’s final green.
At the top, Metraux followed her brilliant front nine that included two eagles and four birdies with three dropped shots against one final birdie for a second round 66. Danger lurked behind her with Yin firing a strong 65 and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, the only double medallist in Olympic golf, climbing into third place on 5 under 139, three strokes off the lead.
“The difference between yesterday and today at the beginning is just the putts that fell,” said Metraux, whose previous best nine-hole score had been a front-nine 30 in the first round of the 2023 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G. “It just brought me confidence going forward and just tried to stay as present as I could and one shot at a time. It went pretty well.”
Aditi said later a low round was possible. “I think today I saw the scores, some players have shot really low rounds, so I know there's a low round out there. I just have to go out there and shoot it. Usually the third day is Moving Day, so just going with that mindset.”
Diksha said she had been inspired by Scottie Scheffler’s winning final round of 9-under 63 in the men’s competition to be aggressive and to take her chances on Friday. “Like Scottie on the final day to clinch a medal, he played 9-under. So I have to be like him. Scottie played very amazing. On the final day, the pin position was very tough, and his striking was good and his putting, he made lots of birdies on that day.”
Slovenia’s Pia Babnik shot a 6-under 66 that included five straight birdies from holes 12 to 16 to climb 26 places on the leaderboard and in a tie for fourth after an opening 74, whole local hero Celine Boutier, who had a 7-under 75 on Wednesday, struggled to a 4-over 76 in Round 2.
The popular Frenchwomen hit a rough patch on the back nine, making double bogey on hole 13, bogey on 14 and double on 15 while Tokyo winner Korda had eventful final stretch en route to a second-round 70, making birdie on 15, quadruple bogey on 16, bogey on 17 and birdie on 18.
Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux returned a 6 under par 66 that was built on an astonishing front nine blitz to take a one-stroke lead into Moving Day at the women’s Olympic golf competition in Paris on Thursday.
Strokes were added and deducted in dizzying fashion as Metraux opening the second day with an 8 under front nine before slowing down, second placed Yin Rouning equalled the ladies course record with a 7 under 65 and world number one Nelly Korda dropped a quadruple bogey 7 on a par three to fall right off the pace for a second Olympic gold.
In all the mayhem, Aditi Ashok battled back from an opening day disappointment to share 14th place on 1 under par 143 with Diksha Dagar and with the course exacting a heavy price from adventurous golfers, every player within reach of the top will feel she has a medal chance. Diksha in fact would have been in the top 10 but for a closing double bogey after playing faultless golf for 17 holes.
On Thursday, Aditi had four birdies in a row from holes 6 to 9 but dropped three shots on either side of the turn, while Diksha was 3 under till the 18th hole when she messed up her third shot and then three-putted for a double-bogey 7, So far, the two Indians have given up four shots in two days on Le Golf National’s final green.
At the top, Metraux followed her brilliant front nine that included two eagles and four birdies with three dropped shots against one final birdie for a second round 66. Danger lurked behind her with Yin firing a strong 65 and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, the only double medallist in Olympic golf, climbing into third place on 5 under 139, three strokes off the lead.
“The difference between yesterday and today at the beginning is just the putts that fell,” said Metraux, whose previous best nine-hole score had been a front-nine 30 in the first round of the 2023 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G. “It just brought me confidence going forward and just tried to stay as present as I could and one shot at a time. It went pretty well.”
Aditi said later a low round was possible. “I think today I saw the scores, some players have shot really low rounds, so I know there's a low round out there. I just have to go out there and shoot it. Usually the third day is Moving Day, so just going with that mindset.”
Diksha said she had been inspired by Scottie Scheffler’s winning final round of 9-under 63 in the men’s competition to be aggressive and to take her chances on Friday. “Like Scottie on the final day to clinch a medal, he played 9-under. So I have to be like him. Scottie played very amazing. On the final day, the pin position was very tough, and his striking was good and his putting, he made lots of birdies on that day.”
Slovenia’s Pia Babnik shot a 6-under 66 that included five straight birdies from holes 12 to 16 to climb 26 places on the leaderboard and in a tie for fourth after an opening 74, whole local hero Celine Boutier, who had a 7-under 75 on Wednesday, struggled to a 4-over 76 in Round 2.
The popular Frenchwomen hit a rough patch on the back nine, making double bogey on hole 13, bogey on 14 and double on 15 while Tokyo winner Korda had eventful final stretch en route to a second-round 70, making birdie on 15, quadruple bogey on 16, bogey on 17 and birdie on 18.