Still without titles of the Grand Slam despite its category, Xander Schauffele (67) has been the Olympic joy to conquer gold in the Tokyo Games. The 27-year-old American, world No. 5, is the new Olympic golf champion after the success of Englishman Justin Rose in Rio’2016 after totaling 266 strokes (-18).
Schauffele, winner of four titles on the American PGA tour, has nine top-10 majors, including two this season in the Masters (3rd) and the US Open (7th), but his Grand Slam record is still unreleased.
Rory SabbatiniRunner-up in the 2007 Masters as a South African and Slovakian since he adopted his wife’s nationality in 2019, he has hung up the silver at age 45 after making a portentous 61-stroke second round and finishing a stroke from Schauffele: Sabbatini, no. 204 world cup, he has excelled with an eagle, 10 birdies and two bogeys in par 71 of the Kasumigaseki Country Club.
The Japanese Hideki MatsuyamaReigning Masters champion, he missed several putts on the final holes that took him away from the gold and is one of seven golfers who played a playoff to decide the bronze medalist.
Besides Matsuyama, the American Collin Morikawa, the British Rory McIlroy Y Paul Casey, the Colombian Sebastian Muñoz, the Chilean Myth Pereira Y C. T. Pan, from Taipei, were the other contenders for Olympic bronze in that exciting tiebreaker.
Pan, 29, world No. 208, finally won bronze on the fourth hole of the playoff, leaving his illustrious rivals without a podium, including current World No. 3 and recent British champion Morikawa, his second Grand Slam after the US PGA. 2020.
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Adri Arnaus (67) finished in 38th place after making an eagle, four birdies and two bogeys, while Jorge Campillo He was 59th after a last round of 75.
Campillo was the substitute in the Spanish team of Jon Rahm, goes down in Tokyo after testing positive for coronavirus in conditions that the Basque golfer himself did not fully understand. Rahm, current No. 1 in the ranking, would have been one of the great favorites for Olympic gold, but Covid-19 prevented him from playing the tournament.
Final classification (par 71):
266 Xander Schauffele (USA) 68-63-68-67
267 Rory Sabbatini (Svq) 69-67-70-61
268 C. T. Pan (Tpe) 74-66-66-63
Collin Morikawa (USA) 69-70-67-63
Mito Pereira (Chl) 69-65-68-67
Rory McIlroy (GBR) 69-66-67-67
Sebastián Muñoz (Col) 67-69-66-67
Hideki Matsuyama (Jap) 69-64-67-69
Paul Casey (GBR) 67-68-66-68
(Pan wins bronze on the fourth hole of the playoff)
…
278 Adri Arnaus (ESP/38º) 68-69-74-67
289 Jorge Campillo (ESP / 59º) 70-75-69-75
