SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — The short turnaround in Olympic golf put Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire of Ireland on the same stage as the men at Le Golf National. The size of the crowd was amazing, the noise so chilling that Meadows said it gave her goosebumps.
Except they were on the front nine practicing as the thrilling men’s competition was ending.
“I joked with Leona when we played nine on Sunday there were all those people around 18, and we were like, ‘That’s probably the most people we’ve ever hit a golf shot for.’ But nobody was paying attention,” Meadow said.
“Maybe we’ll have that — it’s something we all want,” she said. “We’re here for a reason and we’re good.”
Three days after Scottie Scheffler won Olympic gold to add to his astonishing year, Nelly Korda tries to become golf’s first back-to-back gold medalist when the No. 1 player in women’s ranking leads a 60-player field on Wednesday.
Organizers say all 30,000 tickets have been sold. They said that about the men, too, and it was stunning that so many turned out, a gallery so large it was hard for everyone to see.
The women’s competition starts a day earlier to finish on Saturday, ahead of the closing ceremony. That gives them only two full days of practice. Some players, like Shannon Tan of Singapore, have been at Le Golf National all week using the practice areas when they could.
They were allowed to play the front nine on Sunday during the men’s final round once the last group got through the 12th hole. All that did was make the anticipation build.
Perrine Delacour of France has been selected to hit the opening tee shot. She spent time with one of the French men who played, Matthieu Pavon, to get advice on how to handle so much support from the home crowd.
His reply: “Breathe.”
The course is playing 800 yards shorter than it did for the men, but the biggest change is the closing hole is playing as a par 5. It was a terror of a par 4 for the men, with water down the left side and around the green, and rough and deep bunkers on the left.
Korda watched all the men’s competition unfold on Sunday, and when she played her first practice round on Monday, she dreaded hitting a long club to a green surrounded by water.
“I did not know it was a par 5 until I walked up to the green,” she said with a laugh, apparently oblivious to the large signage on the tee. “Now that I know it’s a par 5, maybe we can take a little bit more risk on the tee shot.
“It will be a good finishing hole. I like par-5 finishing holes that are gettable.”
For the big hitters, it’s a real opportunity. Maria Fassi of Mexico hit 3-wood and a 9-iron to the green for one of her practice rounds. The other day was an 8-iron.
The rough also has been slightly trimmed but was still plenty penal.
“It’s going to be a great test this week,” said Maguire, one of 14 women competing in the Olympics for the third straight time, compared with only four men who haven’t missed. “It’s going to really test every part of your game and I think whoever comes away with the medals this week is going to have to have played some really great golf and exactly how it should be for an Olympic Games.”
It’s a big opportunity for Lydia Ko of New Zealand.
She is the only golfer to win medals at two Olympics — a silver in Rio de Janeiro, a bronze in Tokyo. At stake this week is a chance to cement her legacy because a victory would push her over the points required for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Ko won the LPGA Tour’s season opener in January to get within one win of the Hall of Fame. Some six months later, she’ll still there.
She hasn’t been in contention as much as she would like, which keeps her from thinking about it too much. And it’s not easy to win against a field that has 12 of the top 13 players from the women’s world ranking.
But there’s no doubt gold could take on special meaning. It would give her the collection of Olympic medals and get her in the Hall of Fame.
“I’m just trying to play the best I can and try and shoot an under-par score every round I’m out there,” Ko said. “And if I work on the right things, which I feel I’m doing with my coaches, then if it’s going to happen. So I’m not trying to push it.
“And if I win gold, I know I can get in the Hall of Fame. It would be a hell of a way to do it.”
