Individual, Men

Unlike in 2016, most of the eligible top players competed at the Tokyo Olympics, the main exception being the USA’s Dustin Johnson, often the #1 ranked player in the world in the last year and the 2020 Masters Champion. Bryson DeChambeau, the longest hitter in golf and the 2020 US Open Champion, was on the original USA team but he tested positive for COVID-19 shortly before leaving for the Games and had to withdraw.

The top ranked and best known players in the field included Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, Norway’s Viktor Hovland, and the US contingent of Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Reed, and Xander Schauffele, all of whom save Schauffele were major championship winners, with Reed a replacement for DeChambeau. The Japanese were hoping for a title from Hideki Matsuyama, who had won the Masters Tournament earlier in 2021.

The opening round lead, however, was taken by little-known Austrian Josef Straka, who shot 63. He was trailed by one shot by Thailand’s Atiwit Janewattananond, who shot a 7-under par 64. Jazz would fall back and eventually finish in a tie for 27th, while Straka held on well, eventually missing the bronze medal play-off by only one shot.

Round two saw Schauffele take the lead at 11-under par after his second round 63, leading Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz by one shot, with Matsuyama another shot in arrears. Schauffele maintained his lead after three rounds, with a steady 68, as Matsuyama moved up to second, a shot behind, as Ortíz and Great Britain’s Paul Casey stood another shot back.

In the final round Schauffele posted a 67 to hold on to win, though it was far from comfortable. Driving into trouble on the 14th, he salvaged a bogey with a great escape, and then on 18, he again drove off the fairway and had to lay up short of the green. However, he landed a short wedge shot beyond the pin and sucked it back to give him a 4-footer for the win, which he holed for the gold medal. Rory Sabbatini finished strongly on the last day with a 61 and took silver. Sabbatini competed for Slovakia via marriage, although he was a native South African with a British passport and was also a US citizen.

Behind Sabbatini there was a 7-way tie for the bronze medal, which was played off. Casey and Matsuyama went out on the first play-off hole with bogeys. Chinese Taipei’s C. T. Pan won the bronze medal on the fourth play-off hole over Morikawa, after McIlroy, Chile’s Guillermo Pereira, and Colombia’s Sebastian Munóz had dropped out on earlier holes.