30 July 2021: Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond needed all his patience in grinding out a second round of even par 71 as he slipped to tied seventh place and four behind American leader, Xander Schauffele in a weather-hit Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 men’s golf competition on Friday. Anirban Lahiri was even through 16 holes, and has to finish his round on Saturday. Udayan Mane made a seven shot swing, producing a 69 in the second round.
Lahiri made two birdies – his first at the sixth hole and the next at the tenth.
“I played very average golf today. The course played very easy once again,” rued Anirban. “Just played badly on the easy holes and didn’t get the momentum you need on a course like this. Have to make birdies in bunches as the leaders have demonstrated. That will be the goal, 38 holes left. I will try and use every opportunity.”
Mane sailed wide left on the par-3 fourth hole, conceding an early bogey. But he recovered well from there to plod through the course with a series of pars. Running out of holes, Mane produced three birdies in five holes from the 13th to go two-under for the round.
“I just gotta do what I did today,” said a determined Mane. “I am going to focus on a hot start for tomorrow.”
The 25-year-old Jazz had opened with a blistering 64 on Thursday but endured a more difficult day with 16 pars, one birdie and one bogey at Kasumigaseki Country Club’s East course which frustrated the young Thai.
“I mean it’s golf, right?” said Jazz after his uneventful round.
“Sometimes you have a good day, sometimes you have a bad day. I would say today is kind of in the middle. I didn’t play as good, I didn’t hit it as good. I didn’t give myself enough chances. Struggling with lines, struggling with the spin, couldn’t control it. But I’m actually not too upset because I knew I was struggling and I was just trying to get it around without doing too much damage.”
In 2016, Jazz spent two weeks in a Buddhist monastery where he learned to become a monk which taught him some invaluable lessons. A six-time winner in Asia, the young Thai hopes to use his life’s lessons in a bold bid to deliver a medal for Thailand.
“I mean, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. When it works, it works great. Somehow you can try anything on the golf course when you have a bad day you almost can’t fix it. You just have to accept it and try to play with it and try to make yourself happy,” said Jazz, who was tied with Ireland’s Major champions, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry.
“Because sometimes you give too much importance to golf, you forget why you’re doing this for a living, why you started playing because it’s fun. Some people just take it too seriously.”
With World No. 5 and four-time PGA TOUR winner Schauffele flying into a clubhouse second round lead with two eagles on his card en route to a sizzling 63, Jazz knows he has some catching up to do over the next two days.
“I think I have put myself in a pretty good position, like if someone were to ask me, okay, you’re two strokes back or three strokes back even going into the last two days would you take it right now before the tournament start and I would say I would,” he said.
Home hero Hideki Matsuyama, the reigning Masters champion, charged up the leaderboard at 8-under for the tournament when he brilliantly negotiated his 16 holes in 6-under to lie in a share of third place when play was suspended for the day at 5.20pm.
Matsuyama and 15 other players will return at 7.45am Saturday to complete their second rounds, with the third round scheduled to begin from 9.30am to 11.18am.
India’s Anirban Lahiri stands at 4-under in tied 20th place after trading two birdies against as many bogeys through 16 holes of his second round. China’s Carl Yuan was also at 4-under after playing 15 holes in 2-under.
One record-tying round of 8-under-par 63 was matched by another as Xander Schauffele of the USA supplanted Sepp Straka of Austria atop the leaderboard during Friday’s second round of the men’s Olympic golf competition at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
While Schauffele appears headed to a 1-stroke lead over Carlos Ortiz of Mexico, two afternoon weather delays cut short an official conclusion to the day, stranding 16 players who now must complete their round Saturday at 7:45 a.m. local time. Fortunate for Schauffele and Ortiz, they were in the last two groupings to complete their round.
Among those returning to complete the second round Saturday was the host country’s great hope, Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, who birdied his two remaining holes to post 7-under 64 to reach 9-under and secure a spot in the final grouping for round three with Schauffele and Ortiz .
“My feeling is not that great, but I am coming into the weekend with a good condition,” said Matsuyama after his 64. “I would like to get myself in shape and I would like to deliver my good performance (for round three).”
So, as it currently stands, Schauffele leads the chase for Olympic gold at 11-under-par 131 following a round that featured two eagles and six birdies, including three straight to finish his round. In doing so, he equaled the Olympic record that was established in golf’s return at the 2016 Rio Olympics and matched Thursday by Straka.
Ortiz, who took the lead earlier in the day at 10-under on the strength of an eagle-2 at the shortened 294-yard 6th hole which Schauffele also eagled, finished at 67—132. Matsuyama sits two off the lead at 9-under (64) after notching a bogey-free round, including birdies on holes 17 and 18, which he completed Saturday. Three players are in at 133 – Straka (71), Mito Pereira of Chile (65) and Alex Noren of Sweden (67).
Still, the day’s headline belonged to Schauffele, who was glad to finish but wished he could have kept going. “I just kind got in a nice flow there at the end,” he said. “Kind of one of those situations where I wish I could play some more holes. It was nice to sort of make that last putt on 18 before the they blew that horn.”
He had just made his eagle-2 and was on the par-3 7th when play was first suspended, then bogeyed the hole once play resumed two hours later. “So I bogeyed my first hole coming out of the delay, wasn’t in a great spot and was able to make a birdie quickly right after to sort of settle the ship,” said Schauffele, who then shot 5-under 30 on the back nine. “So yeah, I was happy with how I finished.”
Ortiz, meanwhile, finds himself well within striking distance of medal contention heading into the weekend. “I’ve learned that it’s much easier from the fairway,” he said, noting the difficulty of the thick rough. “I think when you’re in the fairway you’re able to be aggressive with the greens being so soft and the greens being this perfect it’s great to once you start getting the right reads, it’s easy to make putts. I feel like I’m in good position and I like where I stand.”
Among those moving into contention include Irish teammates Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy, whose rounds of 65 and 66 put them at 7-under-par 135, catching Jazz Janewattanond of Thailand (71).
Schauffele was happy to be in the driver’s seat, and also in the clubhouse as he had completed his round just before the horn below for the suspension. “I just kind got in a nice flow there at the end. Kind of one of those situations where I wish I could play some more holes. It was nice to sort of make that last putt on 18 before they blew that horn,” he said.
