By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
US world number one Scottie Scheffler won gold at the men’s Olympic golf competition on Sunday after matching the course record in the final round to pip crowd favourite Tommy Fleetwood of Britain.
Scheffler shot a nine-under-par round of 62 to finish the tournament on 19 under par, one shot ahead of Fleetwood who took silver.
Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama claimed the bronze medal a further shot back, improving on his tied fourth place on home soil in Tokyo three years ago.
The Olympic title adds to a spectacular year for Scheffler, who bagged his second Masters title in April as part of six tour successes.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout birdied the final hole of Le Golf National to card a closing round of 69 and end his 2024 Paris Olympic campaign on 274, a total of 10-under-par and 16th place on the leaderboard.
One shot behind him, after signing for a closing 70, was Erik van Rooyen, for a final 70 and nine-under-par 275 and 17th position in the elite 60-man field.
The two South Africans knew they’d have to shoot low to have any chance of getting a look in at the medals, on a golf course which allowed a lot of birdie opportunities, but also pushed errand drives and wayward approaches to the greens. There’s a lot of water on the course to catch the mis-directed shots.
Bezuidenhout has played the back nine well all week, and did so again, making a birdie at No3, but then dropping a shot at the par three 8th hole. It was only the second bogey he had made on that nine all week, while he’d made nine birdies.
He was steadiness personified coming home and birdied the 15th, before ending his second Olympics on a high, making a birdie three on the 18th and final hole, just as he had in Saturday’s third round.
Bezuidenhout finished one shot ahead of his fellow South African.
Van Rooyen again had a round where he mixed birdies with bogeys, and even a double bogey as he had every day. This time he had four birdies on the back nine, plus a bogey and double, before going birdie-double bogey-birdie on the 14th, 15th and 16th holes.
Both will have seen the scoreboards out on the course and watched as John Rahm at one stage looked like running away from the pack, going four shots clear with eight holes remaining. However, he faltered from the 12th to the 14th, dropping five shots, including a triple-bogey seven on the 14th.