When Hideki Matsuyama is firing on all cylinders, no person can cease him, which was precisely the case on Thursday at Le Golf Nationwide, the location of the Olympic Males’s Golf Competitors.
He made eight birdies to zero bogies, taking pictures an 8-under 63 to soar to the highest of the leaderboard after spherical one. Matsuyama tore it up on Thursday, relying closely on his ball-striking and placing, changing loads of alternatives he gave himself on the greens.
After two-putting for par on the par-4 1st gap, Matsuyama holed a 17-footer for birdie on the difficult par-3 2nd, the toughest gap on Thursday. One other birdie adopted on the par-5 third, as the person from Japan was off and working.
The 2021 Masters Champion then made 4 straight birdies across the flip. He holed a 23-footer for birdie on the seventh, caught his strategy shot shut on the par-3 eighth, obtained up-and-down from over the inexperienced for birdie on the par-5 ninth, and drained a birdie strive from 16 ft on the tenth.
Within the blink of a watch, Matsuyama sat at 6-under par and in full management of his sport. He briefly held a share of the lead with Germany’s Matti Schmid at 6-under, however Schmid stumbled over his final 4 holes, recording a double-bogey and a closing bogey to shoot a 3-under 69.
Matsuyama, in the meantime, had no such troubles and as a substitute saved the pedal to the steel. One other birdie on the par-4 thirteenth adopted, because of a stellar strategy that stopped simply 5 ft away. Then, he two-putted for birdie on the following gap, a par-5, bringing him to 8-under for the championship. Matsuyama closed with 4 straight pars, together with a terrific up-and-down on the seventeenth gap to maintain his bogey-free spherical and his lead intact.
He did every little thing nicely on Thursday, rating among the many prime 12 in every of the 4 strokes gained classes: off the tee, approaching the inexperienced, across the inexperienced, and placing. So it’s no marvel he gained extra general strokes than any of the opposite 59 gamers within the discipline.
His terrific begin in Paris attracts comparisons to his unbelievable remaining spherical earlier this yr on the Genesis Invitational, the place he fired a bogey-free 9-under 62 to win at Riviera. Possibly one other victory will come his approach this week.
Fifty-four holes stay earlier than a gold medalist is topped, and loads of golf nonetheless must be performed. However Matsuyama has put himself in a chief place heading into spherical two, and if he retains this degree of play up, no person will catch him.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By. You should definitely try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.
