2024 Olympic golf final-round recap: Scottie Scheffler storms back to win gold

Well, that was short-lived. For a few weeks, at least, there was discussion as to who might win PGA Tour Player of the Year. After all, if Xander Schauffele added a gold medal to his two major wins, that would certainly warrant debate.

Scottie Scheffler put an end to all that on Sunday. Here’s his 2024 resume:

• 6 overall PGA Tour wins
• A Masters Tournament title
• The Players Championship victory
• 4 signature-event trophies
• A gold medal

Earlier this week, players wrote their Paris goal on a whiteboard and Scottie Scheffler put, “Have Fun.” He did that, visiting the Louvre, watching other sports, hanging out with his wife and newborn son. And he still walked away with gold. Standing on the podium, listening to his national anthem late Sunday afternoon, he cried.

Here’s your top 8:

1. Scottie Scheffler (USA): -19 (62)
2. Tommy Fleetwood (GBR): -18 (66)
3. Hideki Matsuyama (JPN): -17 (65)
4. Victor Perez (FRA): -16 (63)
T-5. Rory McIlroy (IRE): -15 (66)
T-5. Jon Rahm (ESP): -15 (70)
7. Nicolai Hojgaard (DEN): -14 (68)
8. Tom Kim (KOR): -13 (68)

England’s Tommy Fleetwood makes a 6-foot par save on the final hole to finish solo second at Le Golf National. Hideki Matsuyama wins bronze.

With Tommy Fleetwood unable to birdie the final hole, Scheffler is the Olympic men’s golf champion.

Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) bogeys the 17th to drop one shot off the lead while Jon Rahm (ESP) also makes bogey to fall into a tie for fourth.

Fleetwood is still one shot clear of Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama for the silver medal. Matsuyama, who has posted 17 under, is one shot clear of Rahm for bronze.

To the 18th we go!

Scheffler plays the back nine in 29, fires an overall 62 and posts 19 under par. The world No. 1 is currently tied with England’s Tommy Fleetwood, who has two holes remaining.

Fleetwood rolls in a 9-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th to match Scottie Scheffler at 19 under. Jon Rahm also birdies No. 16 to get back into podium position. Here’s where we stand down the stretch:

T-1. Scottie Scheffler: -19 (17)
T-1. Tommy Fleetwood: -19 (16)
T-3. Hideki Matsuyama: -17 (17)
T-3. Jon Rahm: -17 (16)

Scheffler (USA), at the par-4 17th, makes his fourth straight birdie to take a one-shot lead at 19 under. Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), who is on the 16th hole, is alone at 18 under.

Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) is solo third, 17 under on the 17th hole.

Take a bow, Victor Perez. The Frenchman thrilled the home-country fans with a back-nine 29 for a closing 63. He finished at 16 under and was one back of third place, held by Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), who is through 16 holes.

Without hitting into a hazard, Rahm (ESP) makes double bogey at the par-5 14th. Through 10 holes, Rahm was leading by four. Four holes later, he’s trailing by two and out of medal position.

11th: Bogey
12th: Bogey
13th: Par
14th: Double

The world No. 1 makes his fifth birdie on the back nine and his third in a row to tie for the lead! Scheffler is now at 18 under par through 16 holes.

After making a five birdies in a row to reach 17 under par and get into a tie for third, McIlroy (IRE) hits his approach shot into the water at the par-4 15th and makes double bogey. He all but drops out of contention for a medal.

Schauffele (USA) found water at the par-4 13th and recorded his second straight bogey. He dropped to 14 under and has gone from overnight co-leader to three shots back of third place.

The Frenchman birdied the 12th, birdied the 13th, eagled the 14th, birdied the 15th and birdied the 16th.

He’s now tied for fourth place and one shot out of the bronze medal position.

Jon Rahm (ESP) makes his second straight bogey. Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) makes his second straight birdie. All of a sudden, a four-shot difference is no more.

Playing alongside one another in the final group, Fleetwood and Rahm are co-leaders at 18 under with Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) alone in third, one back.

Jon Rahm (ESP) lipped out a 5-footer for par at the 11th to drop to 19 under, two clear of playing competitor Tommy Fleetwood (GBR).

With Jon Rahm (ESP) in charge at the top, at 20 under, there is a tightly bunched leaderboard behind him:

2. Tommy Fleetwood (ENG): -17 (11)
T-3. Hideki Matsuyama (JPN): -16 (11)
T-3. Xander Schauffele (USA): -16 (11)
T-5. Scottie Scheffler (USA): -15 (12)
T-5. Rory McIlroy (IRE): -15 (12)

A sixth birdie of the day at the par-4 10th gives Rahm a four-stroke lead.

Rahm added a fifth front-nine birdie to his card at the ninth while Schauffele failed to take advantage of the par 5. Here’s a look at where things stand with the final group entering the inward half:

1. Jon Rahm (ESP): -19 (9)
T-2. Hideki Matsuyama (JPN): -16 (10)
T-2. Tommy Fleetwood (GBR): -16 (9)
4. Xander Schauffele (USA): -15 (9)
T-5. Scottie Scheffler (USA): -14 (10)
T-5. Tom Kim (KOR): -14 (10)

Left of the green, his ball nestled in thick grass on a mound, Jon Rahm (ESP) hacked out, leaving himself 16 feet for par. Xander Schauffele (USA), meanwhile, had a more straightforward chip and then 5 feet for par.

Rahm made, Schauffele missed. The result: Rahm moved three clear of Schauffele, who fell into a three-way tie for second with Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) and Tommy Fleetwood (GBR), who birdie the eighth.

The big Spaniard made his fourth birdie in his last five holes at No. 7 to grab a two-stroke advantage over Xander Schauffele (USA).

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama is now alone in third place, three back at 15 under, after Tommy Fleetwood bogeyed the seventh to fall back.

Rahm made his third birdie in his last four holes at No. 6, to reach 17 under par.

Rahm is one clear of Xander Schauffele (USA) with Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) and Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) tied for third, two back.

They, in turn, are two clear of the field.

Though he didn’t appear to like his approach shot, Matsuyama’s ball landed 10 feet left of the hole. The Japanese star poured in the birdie putt to reach 15 under, tied for third with Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) and one back of co-leaders Xander Schauffele (USA) and Jon Rahm (ESP).

After they all birdied the third, each in the final threesome birdied the fourth as well.

Xander Schauffele (USA) made a double-breaker from 27 feet, followed by Jon Rahm (ESP) from 14 feet and then Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) from 7 feet. Fleetwood is one back of the leading pair and two clear of fourth place.

Xander Schauffele (USA), Jon Rahm (ESP) and Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) all made comfortable birdies on the easy third hole. They are again the top 3 on the leaderboard:

T-1. Schauffele: -15 (3)
T-1. Rahm: -15 (3)
3. Fleetwood: -14 (3)
T-4. Scottie Scheffler (USA): -13 (4)
T-4. Hideki Matsuyama (JPN): -13 (4)
T-6. Nicolai Hojgaard (DEN): -12 (4)
T-6. Rory McIlroy (IRE): -12 (4)

Scheffler (USA) two-putts for birdie at the par-5 third and Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) gets a bounceback birdie at the second. They share third place at 13 under, with Xander Schauffele (USA) and Jon Rahm (ESP) leading at 14 under.

Birdie-birdie start for Scheffler (USA). After Tommy Fleetwood‘s (GBR) bogey at the first, there is now a four-way tie for third at 12 under: Scheffler, Fleetwood, Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) and Nicolai Hojgaard (DEN).

Jon Rahm (-14): fairway

Xander Schauffele (-14): fairway

Tommy Fleetwood (-12): fairway

The world No. 1 birdied the first hole from 15 feet to reach 11 under par.

His current position: T-4.

• Three shots back of gold/silver
• Two shots back of bronze

Nelly Korda, the women’s top-ranked player and the reigning gold medalist, is on the grounds as well.

The women’s event will begin on Wednesday, with two practice days at Le Golf National after the men’s competition wraps up.

Australia’s Minjee Lee and Hannah Green are taking in the Sunday action and cheering on Lee’s brother, Min Woo, who is in the field, as well as countryman Jason Day, who has a shot at a medal.

The Frenchman hit the first shot of the men’s event on Thursday and now tees off Sunday five behind the current bronze medal position.

Of note: He’s made birdie in each of the first three rounds on the treacherous par-4 18th.

In 2016 in Rio, American Matt Kuchar closed in 63 to earn bronze. At the 2020 Tokyo Games, Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini shot 61 to claim silver and Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan posted a 63 before winning a 7-for-1 playoff.

There are nine players beginning this final round within four shots of third place (Tommy Fleetwood, GBR).

Chile’s Mito Pereira is the only player better than 2 under on the day, and he just made the turn in 5-under 31. There are four players, however, who are 3 over or worse.

There are eight groups remaining to go out in the final round. Here’s a look at the groupings and tee times (ET):

5:17 a.m.: Shane Lowry (IRE), Wyndham Clark (USA), Stephan Jaeger (GER)
5:33 a.m.: Matteo Manassero (ITA), C.T. Pan (TPE), Alejandro Tosti (ARG)
5:44 a.m.: Corey Conners (CAN), Byeong Hun An (KOR), Erik van Rooyen (RSA)
5:55 a.m.: Victor Perez (FRA), Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (RSA)
6:06 a.m.: Joaquin Niemann (CHI), Jason Day (AUS), Ludvig Åberg (SWE)
6:17 a.m.: Thomas Detry (BEL), Tom Kim (KOR), Scottie Scheffler (USA)
6:28 a.m.: Rory McIlroy (IRE), Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Nicolai Hojgaard (DEN)
6:39 a.m.: Tommy Fleetwood (GBR), Xander Schauffele (USA), Jon Rahm (ESP)