Xander Schauffele defends Olympic title

Paris is, without doubt, most famous for fashion and beauty.  And so it is not surprising that the beautiful French city is playing host once again to the 2024 Olympic Games.  Alas, the opening ceremony on the evening of Friday, 26th July was a total damp disaster with rain the whole day and well into the night.  But the thousands of athletes who travelled to France from every corner of the world braved the downpours and waved enthusiastically from the boats as they floated down the River Seine.  Wonderful news for golf fans is that golf is back on the Olympic calendar since 2016 when a delighted Englishman Justin Rose seized the title in Rio de Janeiro by two clear shots with a score of 268 which included a birdie on the final hole.

 

Golfers tee-off at Le Golf National

 

For the French it is great news that the Olympics are back in Paris as the city hosted the games exactly 100 years ago.  Tomorrow, Thursday, 1st August sees some of the best golfers around the globe tee-off at Le Golf National in Versailles for the 4-day Men’s Individual Strokeplay Golf Championship.  The course is where the Ryder Cup of 2018 was played and is often the host club for the French Open.  Next week the Women’s Individual Strokeplay Golf Championship takes place from Wednesday, 7th August.

 

The 2021 Olympic Golf Champion Xander Schauffele from America who shot an 18-under par at the Kasumigazeki Country Club in Japan to win the Gold Medal by one shot is also playing in Paris.  Other golfing greats from America include World Number One golfer Scottie Scheffler and Major winners Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark.

 

Great Britain is represented by Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood.  Major winners Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry will also tee-up for Ireland.  Alas, the Netherlands is not playing this year which is a big disappointment for the country’s star player, Joost Luiten, who rated as 27th from the sixty golfers in the Olympics in Rio in 2016.  He will sadly be absent at Le Golf National.

 

So who is teeing-off first in Paris?

 

Well, the French golfer Victor Perez has the honour of opening the Olympic Games at 09.00 hours on Thursday, 1st August.  He is playing with Matthias Schmid (Germany) and C.T. Pan (Chinese Taipei).

 

It is going to be an exciting week in Paris at Le Golf National.  Will Xander Schauffele successfully defend his title?  We will have to wait a few days to see.

 

In the meantime, all I can say is, may the best player win!

 

Wendy Hoad

Editor

 

 

MAIN PHOTOGRAPH:  The opening scene in the city centre of the Olympics Paris 2024.