Olympics 2024: With Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm on top, an artful battle for gold awaits

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — For all its ceremony and grand proclamations that the important thing about the Olympics is to participate, its greatest defining moments are when the best in the world go toe-to-toe. Justin Gatlin vs. Usain Bolt in the 100 meters. U.S. vs. U.S.S.R. in basketball in 1972. Shirley Babashoff vs. East Germany in the pool in 1976. Nancy Kerrigan vs. Tanya Harding in 1994 … er, maybe not.

Well, Olympic golf in the men’s division is on the verge of one of those moments. The current two best players in the men’s game find themselves tied at the top heading into Sunday’s sprint for the gold, and what awaits certainly feels like one of those moments that would have ended up memorialized on one of those Bud Greenspan films, a narrator intoning sonnets about the nearby palace at Versailles serving as a backdrop for Paris’s Le Golf National as a chorus line of divots fly through the air in slow motion.

Spain’s Jon Rahm and the U.S.’s Xander Schauffele, the defending gold medalist, stand equal at 14 under after three rounds of the Olympics. Each made a case Saturday they are ready for the moment. Schauffele fired a 4-iron from 230 yards to 26 feet and made the eagle putt at 14 to surge into a tie for the lead, while 30 minutes later Rahm birdied the brutish 17th hole from 36 feet to stay even.

Participate? Hell’s to the no. How about rising to the occasion? Because that’s what these two are doing, and Rahm feels it.

“It's definitely elevated compared to a regular event,” Rahm said after signing for 66. “It might have been new in golf, but it is the Olympics. I think the crowd knows it is, and we are all aware of what's at stake.

“I've been playing good all year, but I haven't been able to give myself the best chances. For this last month, to be playing as good as I have, and slowly get better; the win last week, and give myself an opportunity this week, as well, is very, very gratifying. It's nice to see things going so well for the last month, and after having won to be in this position again so quickly.”

In case you were wondering, Rahm wants you to know: That feeling he had when he was winning the U.S. Open, winning the Masters, playing his best golf? He’s feeling it again. The Olympics has brought out his best stuff, and he’s enjoying the moment. Rahm won in his last start, the LIV event in England, and he says the Olympics and his current position remind him of his best golf.

“Every time I've played good, it's going to be similar to other times that I've played well,” he said. “I feel just as comfortable as some of those that you mentioned and other wins that I've had in the past.”

Rahm is second in strokes gained/off the tee for the week, a crucial stat where mishit tee balls are often a quick trip to bogeyville. He also leads the field in driving accuracy at 81 percent, with many of the left to right driving holes fitting his natural ball flight. Fortunately, as well, he has the added benefit of a raucous crowd full of Spanish flags at Le Golf National.

“Spain, they are very passionate people towards their country,” he said. “They usually travel very well for big sporting events, and obviously a lot of them came to the Olympics to watch whatever they wanted to watch, and many of them have decided to come here, as well. There's a lot bigger Spanish presence than I expected. They usually obviously wear the flag colors, which are very visible from any distance, and they tend to be about the loudest usually on the course, as well, no matter where I am, and it really helps out.”

But Schauffele, with two major titles from this season in tow, seems to merely be continuing the play that won him the Open Championship. And the setup at Le Golf National, orchestrated largely by the PGA of America’s player-friendly Kerry Haigh, also seems to fit his comfort zone after his win at the PGA Championship at Valhalla in May. Even a slow start — a bogey on the second hole and pars on both front-nine par 5s — didn’t knock him off stride.

“After my first few holes, yeah, I feel better than I did then, for sure,” he said of his 68, his worst round of the week. “It was a sticky start. Slow and kind of weird breaks. It was a bit of a mental battle there. Happy to bounce back pretty strong on the back nine. When you mess up easy holes, you just have to try and birdie the hard ones.”

As for what’s in store on Sunday, Schauffele thinks the record-tying 62 by Nicolai Højgaard puts a new spin on what’s possible. It also means plenty of opportunities for a chasing pack that includes Tommy Fleewood at only one back and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who is giving up nearly three strokes to the field on the greens but is only four shots back. Also lurking at four behind are World No. 3 Rory McIlroy, who authored a 66, and South Korea’s Tom Kim, who could be excused from mandatory military service if he medals.

Schauffele likes how things are shaping up.

“Depending how the wind is, but seeing that 62, it’s sort of monkey see, monkey do out here,” he said. “You have really good players in this field and everyone just saw a 62.

“It's got a big-stage feel to it.”

Paging Mr. Greenspan …