A suspended second round at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has a familiar face at the very top of the leaderboard. Xander Schauffele shot an 8-under 63 to match the round of the week and will take a one-stroke margin over Carlos Ortiz into the weekend.
The second day of play at Kasumigaseki Country Club had myriad starts and stops because of dangerous weather in the area just outside of Tokyo. Play was finally called for good late in the day in Japan, and the 16 golfers out on the course will resume their second rounds early on Saturday morning.
Let’s take a look at what the leaderboard will look like when they do and how it’s starting to take some real shape for the weekend.
1. Xander Schauffele (-11): Schauffele bided his time Thursday with a 68 before his round-of-the-day 63 on Friday in which he made six birdies and two (!) eagles. The terrifying part for the field is that Schauffele didn’t even putt it that well. He gained less than a stroke on the greens because he gained over five from tee to green, the best of which was the tee ball he hit on the 337-meter par-4 6th hole to just over 10 feet (he made that putt for one of his two eagles). Like many of the top players, he’ll get rolling like that sometimes and it’s scary. He’s now +150 to win this event.
“I’ve been pressing pretty hard for quite a little bit of time to win a golf tournament to be completely honest,” Schauffele said after his brilliant round. “So I think there’s a part, a point in today…
