By Gary Lemke for Team South Africa

Erik van Rooyen was one hole away from putting his feet up and enjoying the clubhouse view from near the top of the men’s leaderboard after the first round on Thursday of the men’s golf competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Team SA golfer had fired six birdies and an eagle as he headed to the 18th tee, a par four closing hole. Make par and he’d sign for an opening 65, only two shots off the leader, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan. However, he ended on the worst possible note with a double bogey, which dropped him back down to four-under 67.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout, in his second Olympics, carded a first-round 71 with three birdies and two bogeys.

Both South Africans had said after playing a practice round at Golf National that the layout was a good one for making birdies. Drive well, stay on the fairway and attack the flag. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

Bezuidenhout, coming in to these Games ranked 46th in the world – Van Rooyen is 69th – was one of the earlier starters on a hot Thursday and he started quickly, going two-under after the first three holes. A bogey at the seventh saw him reach the turn at one-under and then he came home with a birdie at the 15th negated by a bogey at the 17th.

Van Rooyen’s round was far more adventurous in terms of the scoring. He made bogey at the second hole, before rebounding with birdies at the fifth and sixth and then eagle at the par-five ninth, to go out in three-under 33. He immediately gave a shot back to the course on the 10th before a birdie blitz – four in six holes from 12 to 17 – pushed him right up the leaderboard to third, only two off the pace of Matsuyama and one behind Xander Schauffele, before the dreaded double at the last.

Van Rooyen was understandably chuffed with his round afterwards. “I played some lovely golf out there, I hit the ball well and putted well. I think four-under is a great start. My ball found the rough on the 18th and I thought I’d get a flyer out of it but I didn’t. The 18th is an incredibly difficult hole but I got unlucky with the ball coming out dead.”

There would have been plenty of contenders for shot of the day in his round of 67. But, what would Van Rooyen choose as his best two?

“Obviously the three-wood I hit on the ninth was a beautiful shot and on the first hole I hit seven-iron for my second shot. It was a tricky shot with wind coming from the right and I had to cut the seven into the wind.

“The weather was warm, in the 30s, but the course is in fantastic shape. I’m feeling good and really looking forward to Friday.”