Tokyo Olympics: Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama in the hunt after opening round of men’s golf
- Big names in the field struggle as USA’s Justin Thomas shoots level par on Thursday
- Home hero Matsuyama goes two-under, with Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond one shot off the lead
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The reigning Masters champion, who recently recovered from contracting Covid-19, scored a two-under-par 69 to sit 20th in the 60-man field, six shots off the lead.
“This experience could be the first and last that I ever get to play in the Olympics in my home country. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to put together a better round,” Matsuyama said.
The USA’s Justin Thomas shot level par, and it was left to world No 161 Sepp Straka to seize the initiative, the Austrian hitting an eight-under 63 to start the tournament with a flourish.
Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond sits one shot off the lead, after a seven-under-par round without a single blemish on his card, which featured seven bogies.
The 25-year-old Thai has only made one cut in 13 attempts this year, but has won one Japan Tour event where he beat out Englishman Paul Casey, who is one of the bigger names in the field at the Games.
Casey, who highlighted how proud he is to be representing Britain at the Olympics, shot a four-under-par 67 to take a share of eighth place after round one.
“It’s just down to business now, isn’t it?” Casey said. “I mean, look at the scoring already. The golf course hasn’t been easy this week. We’ve felt the rough has been tricky and what did he [Straka] shoot, eight-under? Wow, boom.”
Malaysia’s Gavin Green was among a host of players who toiled on the 7,447-yard course, registering a three-over-par 73 with two birdies and six bogeys.
Green has endured a torrid 2021, missing 11 cuts in 14 European Tour outings, which has seen his ranking slip to No 359 in the world, but he was hoping to use the Tokyo Games to turn his form around.
“I just keep telling myself if I can play well and things click, anything can happen,” Green was quoted as saying by the Malay Mail earlier this week.
“It’s tough to say I want to win a gold medal as the field is so deep. You just keep practising hard and sooner or later, it will happen. You just need to stay patient.”
