Le Golf National presents a treacherous closing stretch for those in contention. Hideki Matsuyama found that out the hard way Friday at the Olympics.

Ahead by a shot in the late stages of the second round, the 32-year-old from Japan blew his drive wide right on the home hole, his ball nestling into a horrible lie in tall fescue. Matsuyama wasn’t able to reach the fairway with his hack-out, then he came up short with his third shot from the rough and found the water.

Matsuyama needed to sink a 10-footer just to salvage a double bogey, spoiling what had been an otherwise stellar second round and dropping him into a three-way tie for the lead with Xander Schauffele (USA) and Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) at 11-under 131.

Here’s what you need to know from Round 2 in Paris:        

FULL RESULTS

T-1. Xander Schauffele (USA): -11 (66)
T-1. Hideki Matsuyama (JPN): -11 (68)
T-1. Tommy Fleetwood (GBR): -11 (64) 
4. Jon Rahm (ESP): -9 (66)
T-5. Thomas Detry (BEL): -8 (63)
T-5: C.T. Pan (TPE): -8 (65)
T-5. Tom Kim (KOR): -8 (68)
T-8. Stephan Jaeger (GER): -7 (64)
T-8. Guido Migliozzi (ITA): -7 (67)
T-10. Erik van Rooyen (RSA): -6 (69) 
T-10. Joaquin Niemann (CHI): -6 (70)
T-10. Scottie Scheffler (USA): -6 (69)

The hottest player in golf is in prime position to add another medal to his collection.

Schauffele carded a 66 Friday that, for a while, looked like it’d leave him a few shots back heading into the weekend. Then Matsuyama came unraveled on his final hole of the day.

Schauffele was also in the lead when he went on to win gold at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. 

Dating to the final round of the U.S. Open, Schauffele has shot under par in 13 of his last 15 rounds. He’s in such a groove with his swing that he’s double-digits under par despite a few “clanky” shots over the first 36 holes. He’s outside the top 20 in both driving accuracy and greens in regulation but making up for it with tidy work on and around the greens.

“When you’re in good form, all of us know that it’s all about just making the correct decision and executing the shot and rinse and repeating that process,” he said. “If you do hit a bad shot, it’s easier to accept it because you’re playing really good golf and you can make it up somewhere else. I’m in that sort of zone, I guess.” 

On another day favorable for scoring, Scheffler needed a late push just to stay in touch with the leaders heading into the final two rounds. 

The world No. 1 went out Friday in 38, the lowlight coming on the par-4 seventh hole when he said he was distracted on the tee. After six straight pars, he pushed his drive wildly to the right and into thick rough. He was only able to advance the ball about five yards, eventually walking off with a double bogey and, at the time, dropping nine shots off the pace. 

But Scheffler battled back with four birdies and even squandered two other makeable chances that would have improved his position.

“I’m proud of the back nine. Get myself back into it,” he said. “I was pretty far back, so it was nice to string some good holes together and hole some putts. Definitely ride that momentum the next couple days.” 

Rahm entered the Olympics with plenty of momentum, after notching a top-10 at The Open and then recording his first victory of the year last week at the LIV event in England. The Spaniard has stressed that he’s playing better than his results indicated, especially after changing the shaft in his driver following the PGA Championship in May. 

Now, he’s starting to produce the results, too. 

Playing his fourth week in a row, Rahm got cooking late on the back nine Friday, making three straight birdies and then cleaning up a remarkable up-and-down from the greenside bunker on 18 to sign for a 66. He missed just one fairway and two greens in the second round.

After missing the Tokyo Games because of a late positive COVID test, Rahm is among the top 5 on the leaderboard in his Olympics debut.

“Ball-striking was really good,” he said. “It’s always fun to play days like that where you’re swinging and it’s always going on-line, and almost always going the right distance. It just means you’re going to have a fun day, and a fun day it was.” 

Teaming up with Francesco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood went 4-1 in the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National as the European side rolled to victory.

How much are those good vibes carrying him this week in Paris? 

It’s hard to say.

“Whatever happened six years ago has no effect on what is going to happen tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon, but you’re always better off coming to a course where you have good feelings and good things have happened. So I’ll definitely draw on those,” Fleetwood said. “But I have to stand up there tomorrow and hit the golf shots. Nothing that’s happened in the past is going to do it for me. But like I say, it’s better having good feelings than having a course that’s battered you to pieces.”

More important to Fleetwood is drawing on the many good shots he hit on Friday in his round of 64 that gave him a share of the lead. He dropped his lone shot on the 18th hole, after finding the fairway bunker, but otherwise filled it up on the greens to sit at 11 under.

Ireland's Rory McIlroy looked he might be ready for a hot round after nearly jarring it from 260 yards on the par-5 third for an early eagle. But he played even the rest of the way, making a double bogey on 17 after taking an unplayable lie, and sits at just 5 under, six shots out of third place. … Needing a gold medal to avoid a nearly-two-year mandatory military service, South Korea's Tom Kim shot 68 on Friday and is just three shots off the lead heading into the weekend. … Viktor Hovland’s game remains a work in progress. After an encouraging third-place showing at Valhalla, the Norwegian has once again regressed of late. He missed the cut at both the U.S. Open and The Open, and he backtracked Friday with a second-round 75 in Paris that left him in a tie for 55th in the 60-man field. Though his ball-striking has been far from sharp, he has also been dreadful with his putter, ranking nearly last in the field and losing more than four strokes to the field on the greens. … Chinese Taipei's C.T. Pan, the bronze medalist from the 2020 Games, came home with a back-nine 29 to get in the house at 8 under, which as of now is just three shots off the podium. … Americans Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark are seven and 12 shots back, respectively, heading into the weekend. … The 17th and 18th holes played as the second and first most-difficult holes, respectively, in the second round.