Today would be the day that the first Olympic medals would be placed around the winner’s neck of the Olympic golf tournament in over 100 years, 112 to be exact. Yesterday, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson fought back and forth to put themselves within 18 holes of Olympic glory. Both of them would compete, shot for shot, throughout their final 18 holes. But, the story of the day came from American Matt Kuchar, who charged up the leaderboard, within sniffing distance of the gold.
On this day, 3 golfers will win an Olympic medal.
Historic.@OlympicGolf @GolfChannel— Martin Hall (@martinhallGC) August 14, 2016
Stenson continued to strike the ball well, and through 13 holes had overtaken Rose for the lead, at -15. However, He would relinquish it with a birdie on the following hole. Kuchar continued his surge to -13 through 17 holes. But left his birdie putt short on 18, one off from the lead. Kuchar caught fire and shot a 63 in the final round. Leaving it a three-man race to the medal stand.
Coming down the stretch Rose birdied 15, to re-take the lead at -15 under. Stenson then birdied 16 to draw even again, essentially bringing a sudden death match to the finish. Both parred 17, and headed to the par-5 18th. Rose would birdie against Stenson’s par to take home the gold for Great Britain. Stenson earned silver for Sweeden, and Kuchar surged to bronze for the U.S.A.
.@JustinRose99 birdies 18 to win the first #OlympicGolf #gold in 112 years! #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/tKeJrGQLrW
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) August 14, 2016
In the end, there were a ton of mixed feelings on Golf in the Olympics this year. Through the battles Gil Hans, the architect, had to fight through in building the course, to the lack of the top five players in the world competing, overall the competition was highly competitive, and a great re-introduction of Golf to the Olympics.
With packed galleries and a diverse leaderboard, Olympic golf finally showed its potential. https://t.co/Im0onPFtYW pic.twitter.com/BbjyVlqAnC
— WSJ Sports (@WSJSports) August 13, 2016
At the end of the day, golf was played; and any day that golf is played is a good day. Congrats to Justin Rose, on your gold medal. Well deserved.
