World No.5 Schauffele leads Tokyo Olympic men’s golf, Yuan moves up five

TOKYO: JULY 31 – World No. 5 Xander Schauffele of the United States, world No.5, tops on men’s Olympic golf leaderboard with a big finish in the rain-delayed second round, which ended on Saturday morning.

Yuan Yechun of China moved from the 20th to the 15th after finishing a three-under-par second round.

Schauffele shot a stunning eight-under-par 63 in the second round with two bogeys, six birdies and two eagles, which moved him from 12th to the first on the leaderboard.

“I just got in the flow, a nice flow there at the end. One of those situations where I wish I could play some more holes. It was nice to make that last putt on 18 before they blew that horn,” Schauffele said on his great finish.

“If I do the same stuff I did the first two days we will be good to go. You’ve really got to keep the ball on the fairway,” Schauffele said.

Sitting at 11-under-par 131 overall after two rounds, Schauffele is only one ahead of Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz, who finished the second round with four-under-par 67.

Chinese golfer Yuan finished three-under-par 68 with four birdies and one bogey, moving from the 20th up to the 15th. His compatriot Wu Ashun caught one eagle and two birdies but suffered four bogeys to finish an even-par 71, down to 52nd on the leaderboard.

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama rose up from 17th to third after racking up seven birdies to finish a seven-under-par 64 in the second round. Both Austria’s Sepp Straka and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, who shone on Thursday, finished the second round with even-par-71.

The third round continues on Saturday at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture.

-XINHUA