Olympic golf 2016 results: Henrik Stenson’s hot streak continues in Rio

The first round of Olympic golf in more than 100 years is now in the books and we’re off to a solid start in Rio. I would not characterize the opening round as some sort of fireworks show, but the course was fascinating and beautiful and some big names made some moves. At times, the day felt a little flat, particularly early on, and that kind of lull would have been mitigated had the top players in the world all shown up for the games. But we were bored at times in the first round of the U.S. Open, PGA and other majors too. It’s bound to happen and with just 60 players in the field, there are going to be thin stretches over these four days. Maybe the expectations were just lowered after months of bad PR, but overall, the opening round was a success.

Henrik Stenson started the games as the favorite, and with good reason. The Swede might be the favorite in any golf event he enters right now, including one that would have Jason Day, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. The paspalum greens at this new Rio course are known for grabbing the ball and being a little sticky, and Stenson fired those trademark darts into the flagsticks.

Marcus Fraser holds the first round lead after an 8-under 63, the lowest round in the extremely small sample of Olympics golf history. But Stenson’s late 66, which has him in second place, may have been the more impressive round. This Gil Hanse course was designed to play like a links and in stronger 15-25 mph winds. That wind kicked up for the late tee times, which included Stenson, and the scores were much more difficult. So the Aussie Fraser is in the house with the lead, but the favorite is right there and in perfect position to have a gold medal draped around his Claret Jug by the end of the weekend.

The one big letdown of the opening round was the no-show from the United States. All four players did tee off in the toughest conditions of the day, but no one made much of a move and the two biggest names, Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson, were quite bad.

Fowler, who has embraced this experience more than any other American player, spent most of the day down at the very bottom of the leaderboard. At one point, there was only one player in the 60-man field with a worse score. Rickie is a headliner this week and the event would be made so much better if he could contend, but he was off from the very first hole, which featured a four-jack triple bogey.

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Bubba’s putting was a mess too, and it went sideways for him early. A double bogey on the par-5 10th is something that should never happen with the big-hitting Bubba, and the one “swing” and spot where his round got away from him.

Rickie is 4-over and in a tie for 56th (out of 60) and Bubba is 2-over and and in a tie for 42nd. Matt Kuchar is in the best shape at 2-under and T11, while Pat Reed is 1-over and on the bottom half of the board. No country, aside from the USA, has more than two players in the field. So it was a disappointing day for the USA foursome, highlighted by those early blowouts from their top two stars.

It may have been 112 years ago, but technically Canada is the defending golf champion at the Olympics. Graham DeLaet has been the best Canadian on the PGA Tour for the past couple years, but this season has been a bit of a scramble. It hit a low point when he withdrew from the Memorial and candidly admitted he was dealing with some chipping yips.

As we know, that can quickly become a career-ender, and in spectacularly embarrassing and public ways. DeLaet displayed some of that at the Canandian Open last month, when he skulled and duffed multiple bunker shots.

Then came Thursday at the Olympics, an event that DeLaet has been an ambassador for over the course of this year. Playing in the first group of the day, he went out and posted a 66 to finish even with Stenson in second place. He definitely caught the easiest side of the draw but given where he’s been with the yips this summer, it’s encouraging to see him back on a leaderboard.

The best moment of the day may have come from the lone Brazilian in the field, Adilson da Silva, who had the honor of hitting the first tee shot in golf’s return to the Olympics. Golf is obviously not a popular game in Brazil and da Silva, who came up with nothing, learned to play with tree branches. He kept it together on the first tee when he opened the event, but afterwards got emotional reflecting on the moment and where he’s come from in the game (via Golfweek):

All that counted was that he was playing in the Olympic Games in his home country. Not bad for a guy who started golf by fashioning golf clubs out of tree branches. That was the memory that caused da Silva to break down. He was in full flow until that moment. He had to pause for about 60 seconds to collect himself and wipe tears from his eyes before he could continue.

“It was hard,” he said after regaining his composure. “We used to cut a branch in the shape of a golf club, put loft on it and hit it. Sometimes it would break if the wood was too soft. We learned a lot and were very lucky.”

Da Silva posted a 1-over 73 and while he’s not expected to medal, he certainly didn’t shoot himself out of it as he handled all that came with being the unofficial host in Rio.

Here’s your leaderboard after 18 holes: