Hideki Matsuyama is atop the early leaderboard at the Olympics, but there’s a host of big-name challengers who are looking to knock him off the top of the podium.

Here is what to watch for Friday at Le Golf National:

Matsuyama’s 8-under 63 Thursday was his lowest opening round this year ... by three shots. It was the second-lowest score in recent Olympic history, and the third consecutive Games in which the first-round leader started with a round of 63.

Neither of the previous two players were able to sustain that momentum; Marcus Fraser faded to a T-5 finish at the 2016 Games in Rio, while Sepp Straka backtracked into a tie for 10th in Tokyo. Of course, those players didn’t have the championship pedigree of Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion who could improve his prospects for a Hall of Fame berth if he were to nab a gold medal. Just 32 years old, Matsuyama is a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour who became the first Japanese male player to capture a major championship.

As expected, Xander Schauffele (65) and Scottie Scheffler (67) both did their part Thursday to position themselves for a run at the podium; they figure to factor prominently the remaining three days. But it remains to be seen whether there’s already too much ground to make up for Collin Morikawa (70) and Wyndham Clark (75).

Morikawa’s slow opening round was a surprise given his recent form, with no finish worse than 16th since the week before the Masters. But he managed just two birdies in the opening round, ranking in the bottom half of the field in putting, and currently sits in a tie for 29th.

Clark was far worse on Day 1, starting 4 over in his opening three holes before steadying himself to the house. Hitting just 11 greens in regulation, it was another ball-striking struggle for a player who is ranked fifth in the world but has just two top-10s in his past seven starts. That’s a stark contrast to the recent play of U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, who had high finishes in two other majors but ranked just ninth in the world (and was the sixth-ranked American), having played most of his tournaments this year on LIV Golf, which does not receive OWGR points.

After one round, Clark is T-56 in the 60-man field.

First-round play was twice delayed because of lightning in the area, but it should – fingers crossed – be the last stoppage of the men’s tournament. The forecast for the rest of the week looks much clearer: Mostly-sunny skies are expected for Friday’s second round, with cooler temperatures (low-80s) on tap for the rest of the week.

Le Golf National was already playing dramatically softer and slower than usual, after a wet summer and an early-morning storm on Thursday that dumped a half-inch of rain. That made what is typically a claustrophobic, penal layout slightly more forgiving, as evidenced in the hot early scoring by Matsuyama and others. Forty-one players in all broke par in the first round.

“I don’t think the wind is supposed to pick up and, honestly, I don’t think there’s really much weather, so I think scores will continue to be low,” Morikawa said. “You’ve got to hit it in the fairway, but if you’re in the fairway, you can attack pins. You saw a handful of low scores out there today.”

Some trouble, too, though, as the course is bookended with punishment: The first and second holes were the Nos. 3 and 2 most difficult, respectively, while the 482-yard 18th was the hardest on the course, yielding just five birdies and playing 0.4 strokes over par.

The challenging closing stretch and the weighty stakes should make for a fun finish Sunday.

World No. 3 Rory McIlroy found just eight fairways but still made five birdies and an eagle in a round of 68. … Tom Kim played the French Open last year in a sneak preview of Le Golf National, and he opened with a bogey-free 66. … Jon Rahm lost strokes to the field with both his approach play and putting, yet he still carded a 67 that was marred by a water ball on the par-3 16th. … Both Joaquin Niemann and Erik van Rooyen got to 6 under in the opening round but dropped shots on the difficult home hole. ... Carlos Ortiz double-bogeyed the 16th after reaching the 6-under mark. … There were 29 doubles or worse in the opening round, an eyebrow-raising number on a course that features water on 10 holes. … The star-studded grouping of Scheffler, McIlroy and Ludvig Aberg – three of the top four players in the world – will tee off at 6:06 a.m. ET Friday.