Swiss Golfer Morgane Metraux Takes the Lead in Olympic Golf at Paris 2024
Morgane Metraux of Switzerland stunned everyone with a 6-under 66 score to take the lead at Le Golf National after Round 2 of the women’s golf competition at the Paris Olympics 2024.
Metraux’s front nine performance was astounding, as she fired an 8-under 28 to lead China’s Ruoning Yin by one stroke.
In order to focus on her Tour status, Swiss athlete Morgane Metraux gave up her Olympic spot to her sister in the most recent competition. It was worth waiting for, as she had the entire stage to herself on Thursday at Le Golf National.
Before being hindered by the wind and a poor shot at the wrong moment, Metraux had eight threes on her card for an 8-under 28 total on the front nine. At the halfway point of the women’s golf tournament, she was still leading Ruoning Yin of China by one shot with a 6-under 66.
A week subsequent to the intense medal hunt in the men’s tournament, the women prepared for unique opportunities of their own.
Lydia Ko, the only golfer to medal in both of the previous two Olympics, trailed by just three strokes after a 67. The 17-year-old Kiwi sensation, who peaked at number one in the world, took home the silver in Rio de Janeiro and the bronze in Tokyo. She would become an LPGA Hall of Famer with a gold.
Colombian golfer Mariajo Uribe intended for her final tournament to be the Olympics. She was two back with another seventy. The French fans was once again screaming and singing along with Celine Boutier, but her card showed three consecutive sixes for a 76 along the back nine. She was five minutes late.
The reigning Olympic champion and top player in the world, Nelly Korda, might have been there. Before a poor swing, a mishandled lay, and three putts on the par-3 16th hole cost her a quadruple bogey, she was 6-under for the day. She trailed by six after shooting 70.
“I would be incredibly heartbroken if I had done this on the last day, or let’s say the third day,” Korda remarked. However, I still have 36 holes, so everything is possible.
When the 2020 Tokyo Games arrived, Metraux was still on the experimental Epson Tour, which was the biggest surprise. She made the decision to continue competing on the tour in order to accrue money toward an LPGA card, and she was happy that her older sister Kim was the alternate scheduled to take her place.
“I was hoping she could take my place if anyone could, and it worked out,” Metraux remarked. “The whole COVID-19 thing made her experience a little different, but when she returned, her eyes shone with excitement.”
With three consecutive birdies in the midst of the front nine, eagles on the par 5s, and a par save on the challenging par-4 seventh, Metraux was absolutely amazing. Everything was going according to plan.
While warming up, Yin noticed that Metraux had already reached six under after six holes. “How can someone shoot this low at this course?” I asked my coach. But I believe it’s simply her day,” Yin remarked.
That was true up until the very end. After the penalty drop, Metraux moved from the rough into the lake in front of the 15th green, but she saved bogey by clipping her wedge, which produced enough spin for the ball to check up close to the hole.
She struck her worst shot of the day on the par-5 18th hole, which was 177 yards to the pin. It was just barely over the water, bouncing off the wooden frame and onto the green. She finished 36 holes at 8-under 136 after making bogey.
“It was just a bogey,” Metraux remarked. Although I wish I hadn’t, it’s okay. For the past two days, I’ve been in a wonderful situation.
It can be an erratic pursuit. Yin, a past champion of the Women’s PGA Championship who momentarily held the top spot in the world at the end of last year, looked as good as ever as she opened with three straight birdies and maintained a perfect score on a challenging, windy day.
Ko made her way into contention without encountering any obstacles. On the eighteenth, she was also slowed down without dropping a ball. She couldn’t save par as she traveled from rough to rough, across the green into even more tough. She was attempting to avoid staring ahead, but she was just three behind.
“It’s amazing that I could enter the Hall of Fame and put an end to all of these questions if I did win the gold,” she remarked. However, I’m playing here with 59 other very qualified players, and there are still 36 holes to go.
Furthermore, Le Golf National is a course that rewards high scores and has the ability to strike back quickly, according to her.
Korda doesn’t need to be told that. On the 136-yard 16th hole, which had a front pin, she was between clubs and two strokes behind. She chose to use the lengthier 9-iron, but she didn’t commit completely and let it leak sufficiently to the point where it made a hard hop into the water.
Her wedge from the drop zone ended abruptly in a plugged lay within the bunker. She three-putted from ninety feet, but instead of it coming out heavy, she blasted it to the back of the green. That came out to a 7, moving her down from a second-place tie to a 12-place tie.
Korda responded that it was up to her when asked if she was playing good enough to make up six shots in two days.
“Yes,” she responded, “if I’m hitting it well off the tee, which I was today, and I’m making good shots in and giving myself opportunities.” “No, if I’m hitting it hard. The most important thing is to see if I can play my best for the next two days.
