Nelly Korda’s Olympic golf title defence suffered a major setback on Thursday when the American world number one made a quadruple bogey late in her second round as two-time medallist Lydia Ko was in contention.
Unknown Swiss player Morgane Metraux took the lead halfway through at Le Golf National after a spectacular front nine of 28 in 66, six under par, which allows her to reach eight under par for the tournament.
China’s Yin Ruoning is just one shot behind after a bogey-free 65, while evening leader Celine Boutier fell back with a four-over-par 76.
Korda is six shots behind in 12th place after collapsing on the par-three 16th hole when she looked set to challenge for the lead.
The American hit her tee shot into the lake, protecting the green, before hitting her shot from the drop zone into a bunker.
Her shot from the sand, where her ball had gotten stuck, flew well over the flag to the back of the green and she three-putted from there for a ruinous seven.
“Those bunkers are really firm and when I tried to be a little aggressive with them, my ball got pushed to the back of the green,” Korda said.
“It’s just a series of unfortunate events that happened one after another.”
Korda won six LPGA Tour titles in seven events earlier this season before suffering a dramatic loss of form with three successive missed cuts.
The first of these came at the US Women’s Open, where she shot a 10 on a par-three hole.
Korda still has a lot of work to do to defend the crown she won in Tokyo, despite finishing with her seventh birdie of the day for a two-under-par 70.
“I still have 36 holes to play and anything can happen. I’m trying to see the positive in all of this,” she said.
New Zealand’s Ko, the only golfer to win multiple individual Olympic medals, boosted her hopes of finishing the set with a 67 to reach five under par overall, moving her into third place.
Former world number one Ko won silver in Rio eight years ago and bronze at the Tokyo Games.
She could have been even closer to Metraux’s lead, but she made bogey on the par-five 18th after hitting her third shot into the greenside bunker.
“Today I played very solidly and didn’t put myself in such uncomfortable positions,” Ko said.
Metraux, ranked 137th in the world, took advantage of mild opening conditions, making two eagles and four birdies in a sensational first nine holes.
Her score was marred by two shots into the water in the inner half, including on the 18th, although on both occasions she limited the damage to bogeys.
– Boutier steps back –
Local favourite Boutier endured a miserable comeback and was relegated to the chasers.
Last year’s Evian Championship winner started the day three shots clear at the top of the leaderboard but her second round was disrupted when she hit her approach shot from the 13th into the water and made double bogey.
Boutier compounded that mistake with a sloppy bogey on the par-five 14th, then found the water on the 15th en route to another double.
“Emotionally, it went well,” she said when asked if the support of the thousands of French fans following her had had a negative effect on her game.
“I really feel like I let a few shots go by.”
Boutier dropped to a tie for sixth at three under par.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai, Philippines’ Bianca Pagdanganan, Thai star Atthaya Thitikul, Japan’s Miyu Yamashita and Yin’s Chinese teammate Lin Xiyu are also just five shots off the lead.
World number 341 Pia Babnik of Slovenia and Colombian Mariajo Uribe are one shot closer to the top three, tied for fourth.
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