After rounds of 78 and 74 on days one and two, Stephanie Meadow is happy to have continued the improvement with a level-par effort in round three and it saw her climb eight places into a tied for 44th in the Women’s Olympic Golf event at Le Golf National.
“Yeah, much better,” was her assessment, “trending in the right direction. A lot of fighting out there today. It wasn’t pretty but I got the job done.”
Only 20 of the 60 starters are in red figures after three rounds, and Meadow feels that if her upward trend continues and she manages to break par in the final round, she could make big strides up the board.
“The rough is very penal and you’ve got to keep it in the short stuff,” she said. “Hit some really good shots and chipped in twice today. That helped. Couldn’t get the putter going. Overall, decent day and maybe I can get under par tomorrow and move up some more.”
One fond memory she will take away is the level of support both her and Leona Maguire have received from the travelling Irish fans.
“That was great,” she said. “Back-to-back groups were Ireland, which was great. You see all the flags and cheers, and I saw a lot of familiar faces from back-in-the-day golf. You know, old Team Ireland staff. It was really fun to see them out again. You’re wearing a flag and you’re playing for your country. Trying to do my best and playing for pride at this point.”
Like most fellow Irish men and women, she’ll be watching Rhasidat Adeleke in the Women’s 400m Final this evening and putting her final preparations in for what she hopes will be a happy sign off to her third Olympic Games.
“Absolutely,” she replied when asked if she’d be finding a TV for the event. “We’ve had a busy few days. It’s nice to putt the feet up for a bit but yes, we will be watching. I think a nice dinner all together and try to get ready for tomorrow.”