Unlike the men’s tournament, in which the top four players in the world opted not to play, not one of the top women who was eligible to play dropped out.
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“Coach pays careful attention to us and she cooks delicious food”, she said. “It feels like the Olympics”.
“We all took a photo together and it just felt like team New Zealand”. The heightened expectations were a paradigm shift for a young woman who wore a back brace between junior tournaments, who wasn’t the best player on her high school team, who was snubbed for the Curtis Cup as a college sophomore and as national player of the year as a senior. “I want to play my game and not worry about it”.
“My putting was probably the best part of my game today”, she said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen the next two days”.
The first Olympic women’s golf tournament since 1900 begins Wednesday and concludes Saturday on the Olympic Golf Course. Now a global lineup of 60 seeks gold. “So to go from zero to 2-under I think was a great turnaround”.
Seven-time major champion Inbee Park produced a five-under round on day two of the women’s golf competition at Rio 2016 to move a stroke clear at the top of the leaderboard. People in her homeland hailed her breakthrough triumph, perhaps only a hint of bigger prizes to come this week.
It is. They give out medals at the end, and Lewis is in prime position to receive one. “We all know the story of Se Ri Pak, how she won the U.S. Open and kick-started a revolution in Korea”, Ashok says. She racked up frequent flier miles since playing in the Ricoh Women’s British Open.
Men s golf returned earlier during the Rio Games, with Britain s Justin Rose on Sunday winning the first men s gold in 112 years in a thrilling duel with Sweden s Henrik Stenson. “The Olympic Games is an opportunity of a lifetime”. In her own words, she feels like she’s back where she belongs and certainly “very happy to be back”.
She then handed back both shots with a double-bogey on the par-three 4th hole – only to recover with an eagle on the very next hole, the par-five 5th.
The otherwise celebratory occasion was dragged down by the circumstances surrounding her injured left thumb and the rules governing qualification.
Majority were on the course Sunday afternoon, either watching the men finish or hearing the cheers as they practiced.
“We saw Usain Bolt going by”. I’ve always watched the Olympics.
“But I don’t know, I didn’t expect this today as all”. It’s a great layout.
Thompson tuned up for the Olympics with a typical practice regimen while 15th-ranked American Gerina Piller pulled weeds from her garden, saying, “My hamstrings are so sore it’s not even amusing”.
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Lewis struggled to a one-under 70 in the first round, but found a groove Thursday, closing with four straight birdies to take the clubhouse lead before Park ended with a three-birdie run of her own.
