SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – It was a day of extremes for Morgane Metraux at the Olympic women’s golf competition. There was the 8-under 28 with two eagles on the front nine followed by a 2-over 38 with three bogeys and the looming presence of a rules official with a stopwatch on the inward loop. It all added up to a 6-under 66 on Day 2 at Le Golf National.
First, the front nine.
“There was barely any wind this morning. Perfect conditions and the course is just perfect. If you hit a good putt, you know it's going to go in because the greens are rolling so well,” said Switzerland’s Metraux. “I was really calm. I knew my game is in a good spot, and I was rolling it well. Yeah, I was actually surprisingly very calm starting the round.”
The round vaulted Metraux into first place at 8 under and one shot ahead of China’s Ruoning Yin.
Now, the back nine.
According to an official with the International Golf Federation, Metraux’s group was put on the clock on the 11th hole for being out of position and over the allotted time par.
The official said the other two players in Metraux’s threesome, Spain’s Azahara Munoz and the Philippines’ Bianca Pagdanganan, were given “bad times” during the back nine, which was monitored by a rules officials, but no penalties were issued.
After the round, Metraux said she was aware of being on the clock but it wasn’t why she struggled on the closing loop.
“On the back nine it was a bit more gusty, so we had to go through more of a longer process,” she said.