Irish medal hopes are hanging by a thread after day one of the Women’s Olympic Golf event after Stephanie Meadow and Leona Maguire both struggled to six-over opening rounds as Le Golf National proved a worthy adversary for the game’s leading women.
Meadow had the honour of joining Frenchwoman Perrine Delacour and Belgian Manon De Roey in the opening group, but five bogeys without a single birdie on the front nine left the Jordanstown woman playing catchup right from the start.
Two more bogeys on the opening three of the back side had her rooted to the foot of the leaderboard, but she regained her composure and reeled off five successive pars before finally opening her birdie account on the 18th and got into the clubhouse at +6.
Meadow was well into the back nine when Maguire began her round, and she too found herself facing an uphill battle after making a double bogey on the first. Two more dropped shots on seven and eight made the task even tougher, but disaster awaited on the ninth as she pulled her second shot to the par-5 and found a brutal lie, only able to advance the ball three yards after two attempts, then took a penalty drop and ended up holing a six-footer for a triple-bogey-eight.
But she’s never been one to throw in the towel, and she regrouped to cover the back nine in -1 with three birdies – including two in her final three holes – to two bogeys and she joined Meadow at +6, ending the day tied for 50th.
But the day belonged to Céline Boutier who delighted the home crowds with an opening seven-under 65 that handed her a three-shot lead at the Olympic women’s golf competition.
With big galleries gathered for the first round at Le Golf National on Wednesday, world No. 7 Boutier was inspired as she recorded eight birdies and one bogey to make a dream start in her medal pursuit. Her total equalled the lowest first-round score at the Olympics, matching efforts by Ariya Jutanugarn in 2016 and Madelene Sagstrom at Tokyo 2020.
The Frenchwoman, who won her first major last year on home soil at The Amundi Evian Championship, dropped just a single shot on Wednesday en route to reaching seven-under. She leads the way over South African major winner Ashleigh Buhai.
Boutier made three front-nine birdies before back-to-back gains after the turn saw her move into the solo lead. After finding a fairway bunker off the tee at the 12th, the 30-year-old dropped her lone shot of the day on the par 4.
But that only appeared to refocus her mind as she then reeled off three consecutive birdies from the 14th through to the 16th, highlighted by a chip-in at the par-3 16th hole. The French star then parred the final two holes before receiving a great ovation from the waves of fans assembled around the 18th green.
Buhai, who, like Boutier, is competing in her second Games after making her debut at Rio 2016, mixed five birdies with one bogey to card a 68. She grabbed birdies on the seventh and ninth holes to turn in two-under, and Buhai was then flawless on the back nine, as a pair of birdies at the 13th and 14th helped her post a four-under.
World No. 2 Lilia Vu, who pre-tournament said a gold medal would trump her two major wins, sits in a tie for third at two-under in a four-strong group of players that also includes Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux, Mexico’s Gaby Lopez and Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe.
After a slow start that saw her bogey three of her opening seven holes, world No. 1 Nelly Korda recovered well to kick off her gold medal defense at Le Golf National with an even-par 72.