This is not always W. Olympics, Tommy Fritwood and Hideki Matsuyama will leave
Professional golf elite is not satisfied with San Quentin En Jobein, France, and the best. As Tiger Woods said, “Second place sucks.”
After a wild finish to close out the men’s Olympic golf competition, silver medalist Tommy Fleetwood and bronze medalist Hideki Matsuyama each gave different assessments.
Fleetwood couldn’t catch Scottie Scheffler on Sunday, making bogey on the 71st hole to bow out of the gold medal game, but he made a 6-foot putt for par to clinch the silver medal. Matsuyama, who left a mediocre 71 on Saturday to watch the medals battle, rallied with a final-round 65 to finish ahead of French hero Victor Perez for bronze.
Fleetwood, who has 10 career victories, stressed that an Olympic medal was not something he had ever thought about because it was not part of golf. He is now in a fundamentally special place.
“When I was a little boy and I started playing golf, none of us here dreamed of becoming an Olympian or winning an Olympic medal,” he said. “So it wasn’t really in our plans at all until golf finally came along.
“Once you’re in the Olympics, things change quickly. It’s an incredibly special feeling, knowing that it wasn’t me who won the gold medal today, it was a very good golfer who did. Standing on the podium with a medal in front of a crowd was one of the greatest moments I’ve ever experienced as a golfer, so I’ll never forget these moments.
Matsuyama, who played the role of his country’s favorite son at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, was eliminated from a seven-man playoff for the bronze medal after missing a short par putt. Sunday was a kind of redemption for him that’s hard to put into words. “I had a goal of winning the gold medal, so I thought I had a chance to achieve it if I didn’t finish in 17th place,” Matsuyama said. “I tried really hard to win it in Tokyo, but I didn’t, so I’m really happy I was able to win it this time.” “I really think winning something is better than winning nothing.”
More importantly, Fleetwood may have been the most frustrated, staying consistent throughout the round as Jon Rahm took the lead and then Scheffler rallied. He birdied a nervy, watery 16th hole to tie with the world No. 1, but then his approach from the rough on the long, uphill 17th hole hit the green and he was helpless in making the difficult putt. He was called to land him out of the head, then shot him at 18, settled for Green. A delicate step on the slope gave a hole in the hole before exceeding six feet after. The putt drew thunderous applause from the crowd, who waved flags encrusted with British flags in honour of the man who won the 2017 Golf National and helped Europe win the Ryder Cup 4-1 a year later.
“It was just so, so amazing, so, so amazing,” he said. “I thought the leaderboard was unbelievable. You know, I just think it was a great spectacle for golf and to be a part of it. If you can’t enjoy the moment, you can’t enjoy golf.
“I loved competing against the best players in the world for something so highly sought after and so highly valued. This isn’t going to happen for another four years. You always know it. Even in the last one for me, normally I would have kind of given that thing a chance. I missed it, and I know I lost the tournament, but I was still pretty nervous trying to get that silver medal against this 6-footer.”
Second place, at least in this case, clearly didn’t suck.
