Alright everyone - here is your quick-fire golf newsletter with the essential “must-knows” from the world of golf. Enjoy!!! ⛳💥

Also, don’t forget to download and listen to the Beyond The Tour podcast. You can find it on Apple, Spotify and YouTube.

🏆 Men’s Olympics Recap

The Men’s individual event at the Olympics has been run and won at Le Golf Nationale, just outside of Paris. Here are your “must-knows” from the event:

• Scottie Scheffler takes the Gold with a blistering final round -9 (62), equaling the course record and surely solidifying himself as player of the year. Scheffler was emotional afterwards and shed tears during the medal ceremony as the US flag was raised and Star-Spangled Banner rang out. Starting Sunday 4-shots back, Scottie birdied his first 3 holes of the day to set the tone. He had basically eroded the 54-hole leaders’ advantage within a few holes. Then he set the course on fire with a back 9 of 29 (-5) which included 4 straight birdies on holes 14-17 when the tournament was on the line. Clutch golf from the world #1.

• For Jon Rahm, the question must be asked - was this an all-time choke? Rahmbo was equal leader going into final round (sharing the lead with Xander Shauffele). He led the field for GIR and FIR through first 3 rounds and looked primed to win Gold off the back of his victory last week at LIV UK and in front of a big Euro crowd. Rahmbo went 6-under through his first 10 holes on Sunday to hold a 4-stroke lead and the Gold medal was his to lose. Unfortunately, he shot +5 for his last 8 holes, playing out a tragic end to the Spaniard's Olympic campaign. In his post round comments, Jon said “I not only feel like I let myself down, but to just not get it done for the whole country of Spain. It’s a lot more painful than I would like it to be”. Brandel couldn’t help himself and chimed in (of course).

• Tommy Fleetwood claimed the Silver medal, with his final round of 66 not quite good enough to get the job done. We’ve seen this so often from Fleetwood where he gets himself into contention in the big events but can’t seem to close them out (he has zero Major wins and zero PGAT wins, but a bunch of second places). Tommy was right in this one up to his eyeballs, but an untimely bogey on 17 handed the advantage to Scheffler and meant he had to birdie the 18th hole (toughest on course) to force a playoff. A par on the last secured him the Silver.

• Hideki Matsuyama took the Bronze medal after being the first-round leader with an opening score of 63. The Japanese star struggled with the putter through rounds 2 and 3. He then spent 2.5 hours on the practice putting green before final round on Sunday. This clearly paid dividends with Hideki shooting 6-under to join Scottie and Tommy on the podium.

• Rory McIlroy was, as usual, one of the favourites going into the tournament. There was a bit of speculation about why he was born in Northern Ireland (therefore could be part of Team GB) but chose to play for Ireland. This was nothing more than a storm in teacup and Rory sensibly pointed out he was being consistent with his playing choices as an amateur in representing Ireland. Nonetheless, he was certainly a crowd fave with chants of “Rory Rory Rory” on the opening tee being very reminiscent of Ryder Cup events. Rory was 4-back to start Sunday, and his final round of 5-under saw him finish T5.

• Young Tom Kim was an interesting story line through the event. He was fighting to avoid mandatory military service for South Korea and needed to medal to gain this exemption. But Tom unfortunately couldn’t do better than 8th. It was a tough scene in the scorer’s hut following the round where Kim was emotional, shedding tears at the result.

• As for the Aussies – Jason Day was our best finisher at T9. He was 10th going into Sunday, and his 3-under final found was solid but was never going to get it done. Min Woo Lee blew his chances on the first day with poor 5-over round. He tried to fight back and showed some signs of cooking (66 in round 2), but was always too far back. He finished T22.

• So, what was our verdict on Le Golf Nationale as the host course? Well, it seemed like the PGAT had somehow got themselves in charge of the course set up - we got long rough and pillow soft greens/fairways, which we are accustomed to seeing week-in, week-out on the PGAT. But the stadium style course and vocal crowds created a great atmosphere for the event. It did feel very much like a Ryder Cup at times, and having a full-scale crowd certainly was a much needed change up to the COVID impacted event from Tokyo. Overall, the course provided a decent stage for the dramatic finish we got.

• Some have been asking the question - does golf belong in the Olympics? There has been a huge change in attitude from 2016 where we saw a swath of players looking for excuses not to play in the Olympics, even verging on complete snobbery. What we got over the past few days was great. The event had pop and juice. The Olympics now also provides another chance for fans to see LIV vs PGAT players (which we only get at Majors currently). This is now the 3rd time in recent history golf has been played at the Olympics and it has built momentum each time. We definitely think the Olympics should be part of the professional golf ecosystem - so bring on LA in 2028 at Riviera CC!

• What about a Team Event? Currently, the Olympics only has individual stroke play. However, a Team component would be an excellent addition in future years. Maybe an alternate shot format. Also, there is the option of having a mixed team event too. We think there is lots of opportunity to explore in Olympics golf and it could be huge for world golf if the Governing Bodies get their sh!t together!

📅 Schedule for the Week

Another relatively quiet week on the usual tours this week as the stage remains focused on the Olympics - this time the women will be duking it out. Our Aussies, Minjee Lee and Hannah Green, will be representing the Green and Gold and hopefully give it a better shake than the men were able to.

Your golfing schedule for the week, and how to watch is below:

• PGAT: The Wyndham Championship - Sedgefield Country Club (Greensborough NC), $7.9m purse, Friday 9/8 to Monday 12/8, Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, Main Coverage starts 5.00am AEST Friday, Featured Groups from 8.30pm Thursday.

• Special Event: The Olympics - Le Golf National (Paris, France), Wednesday 7/8 to Saturday 10/8, Coverage on 9Now from 5pm on Wednesday.

• LIV: No event

• DPWT: No event

• LPGA: No event