SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — Morgane Metraux of Switzerland gave up her spot to her sister within the final Olympics so she may consider her tour standing. She had the stage to herself Thursday at Le Golf Nationwide that made it well worth the wait.
Metraux had eight 3s on her card on the entrance 9 — an 8-under 28 — till getting slowed by the wind and a nasty shot on the unsuitable time. She nonetheless had a 6-under 66, giving her a one-shot lead over Ruoning Yin of China on the midway level of the ladies’s golf competitors.
One week after the lads’s competitors had a dynamic medal chase, the ladies lined up for some particular prospects of their very own.
Lydia Ko, the one golfer to win medals prior to now two Olympics, had a 67 and was solely three pictures behind. Ko, who reached No. 1 on the planet at age 17, gained the silver in Rio de Janeiro and the bronze in Tokyo. A gold would put her into the LPGA Corridor of Fame.
Mariajo Uribe of Colombia is retiring from golf and wished the Olympics to be her last competitors. She had one other 70 and was two behind. Celine Boutier had the French crowd chanting and singing once more, however she had three straight 6s on her card alongside the again 9 for a 76 and was 4 again.
Nelly Korda, the world No. 1 and defending Olympic champion, may have been proper there. She was 6 below on the day till one unhealthy swing, one unhealthy lie and three putts for a quadruple bogey on the par-3 sixteenth. She shot 70 and was six behind.
“If I’d have achieved this on the final day — or for instance the third day — then I’d be extraordinarily heartbroken,” Korda stated. “However I’ve 36 extra holes and something can occur.”
The largest shock was Metraux, who was nonetheless on the developmental Epson Tour when the Tokyo Video games arrived. She determined to maintain taking part in the tour to earn cash towards an LPGA card and was happy that the alternate in line to interchange her was her older sister, Kim.
“If anyone may take my spot, I hoped it could be her and it labored out,” Morgane Metraux stated. “She had a little bit of a special expertise due to the entire COVID factor. … However she had stars in her eyes when she got here again.”
Metraux was merely dazzling with a entrance 9 that featured eagles on the par 5s, three straight birdies in the course of the entrance 9 and a par save on the robust par-4 seventh.
Yin was warming up when she noticed Metraux already at 6 below by means of six holes.
“I used to be speaking to my coach, ‘How can somebody shoot this low at this course?’ However I believe it is simply her day,” Yin stated.
That it was, till the tip. Metraux went from the tough into the water fronting the fifteenth inexperienced, salvaging bogey after the penalty drop by clipping her wedge to create sufficient spin for the ball to test up proper subsequent to the outlet.
On the par-5 18th, she had 177 yards to the pin and hit her worst shot of the day. It got here up simply quick, bouncing off the picket body across the inexperienced and into the water. She made bogey to complete 36 holes at 8-under 136.
“Solely obtained a bogey out of it. I want I did not, but it surely’s effective. I am nonetheless in a terrific place for the final two days,” Metraux stated.
It may very well be a wild chase. Yin is a former Ladies’s PGA Championship winner who briefly reached No. 1 on the planet late final 12 months, and he or she appeared nearly as good as ever by beginning with three straight birdies and maintaining a clear card on a troublesome, windy day.
Ko was bogey-free as she moved her method into rivalry. She additionally was slowed on the 18th with out shedding a golf ball. She went from tough to tough, over the inexperienced into extra tough and could not salvage par.
However she was solely three behind and attempting to maintain from wanting forward.
“It is actually cool that if I did win the gold, I may get within the Corridor of Fame, and it could cease all these questions,” she stated. “However I am taking part in alongside 59 different of the top-qualified gamers right here, and there is 36 holes to go.”
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