There was plenty for golf to celebrate in its return to the Olympics, from the opening tee shot by Adilson da Silva of Brazil to the first hole-in-one by Justin Rose, who wasn’t even sure his 7-iron from 189 yards on the fourth hole had gone in the cup until he heard the crowd.
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Henrik Stenson was playing a unsafe game poking an alligator during the third round of the Olympic golf tournament.
Bryan has made a fast rise since focusing on tournament golf past year after working as a trick-shot artist.
But the Open champion did bogey the par-three next after dumping his tee-shot into sand, but he drained a 25-foot putt for birdie at the short eighth before three-putting at the 14th green.
Ireland’s Pádraig Harrington moved up to a share of seventh position after carding a four-under 67 to move to five under but Séamus Power’s challenge faded on the back nine as four bogeys saw him sign for a three-over 74 as he slipped back to one under and a share of 26th spot. Bubba Watson signed for 67 but is 2 under through 36 holes.
Play was delayed 3 1/2 hours Thursday when an inch of rain fell, then the start was delayed five hours Friday after an overnight storm dumped another 2.4 inches on the soaked course.
World No. 90 will now look to hit the reset button before Sunday, as he still sits in third place, with a three-shot cushion over the trio of golfers waiting to pounce at 6-under 207.
“If I play as hard as I can and it’s good enough to get a medal, so be it”.
“Yeah, today felt so different from yesterday”, said Fraser.
“That was the funniest thing ever”, the left-hander explained. He took the lead for the first time with a 35-foot putt from off the 12th green.
Rose was four shots out of the lead to start the second round, but not for long. Stenson made a par putt from 108 feet. He finished his round with a delicate pitch from a drop area, but only after his caddie had to ask Brazilian fans in the bleachers around the 18th green to move 20 feet because their shadows were dancing around his golf ball.
“He said you and Justin Rose [who shot a hole-in-one yesterday] – you’ve got something in common – you’ve both got ones on the card!”
World No. 5 Stenson, who won his first grand slam at last month’s British Open, is the highest-ranked player in the men’s field after Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy pulled out.
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The second round of the golf competition at the 2016 Rio Olympics went much better for the Americans as three members of the team are going to the weekend in red figures, but they are all chasing Australian Marcus Fraser, who held onto the lead at 10 under through two rounds. You see how much it means to other athletes here in Rio; how people commit and devote their lives to an Olympic medal. “But when we see someone with a gold medal around their neck tomorrow, we are all going to realize what a big moment that is”.
