Guyancourt, France: Xander Schauffele remained in the hunt for a second successive Olympic gold as the American ended the second day of the men’s golf competition as joint leader, unperturbed by a brush with an anthill.
Schauffele shot a five-under-par 66 for his second round to reach 11 under, tied with overnight leader Hideki Matsuyama of Japan and Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood who revived memories of his past success at Le Golf National near Paris.
In-form Schauffele won last month’s British Open to claim his second major title this year.
“If you do hit a bad shot it’s easier to accept it because you know you’re playing really good golf and you can make it up somewhere else,” he told reporters on Friday.
Finding the rough along the 13th fairway, he discovered his ball was lying on an anthill and sought advice from tournament officials before hacking out on the way to a bogey.
“I’ve had burrowing animal issues but not like an antpile that you can’t really move,” he said.
The 60 contenders will all play four rounds in a stroke play format at the venue that hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup.
Spain’s Jon Rahm, like Matsuyama a former Masters winner, was fourth on the leaderboard at nine under.
