Morgane Métraux is leading the golf tournament in Paris at the halfway stage after two of four rounds. The 27-year-old from Cully almost managed a dream round on Thursday.
08.08.2024, 15:06
08.08.2024, 17:47
SDA
Morgane Métraux pulled off the dream round over at least two thirds or 12 of the 18 holes. After the fifth hole, the Swiss player was already leading the leaderboard for the first time. Métraux made four birdies (1 under par) and an eagle (2 under par) in the first six holes. Métraux followed this up with a second eagle on the ninth hole.
"I started the round full of confidence," said Métraux. "I was already doing very well on the first day. On the second day, the putts also dropped." Métraux played the first nine holes, the "front 9", with a dream score of 8 under par. Here's a comparison: she has only managed full rounds (18 holes) with a score of 7 under par twice on the Womens Tour (LPGA).
But that's just it: Morgane Métraux was unable to pull off the dream round. On the back nine (and especially on the last six holes) she lost two more strokes. The Swiss player's balls landed in the water twice and she missed the green once. "The playing conditions became more difficult," explained Métraux, "the wind came up."
With her lightning start on Thursday morning, Métraux launched the women's tournament after only 12 of the 60 golfers had played under par on Wednesday. Métraux pulled away from the competition on the leaderboard - and made sure that the co-favorites, who started the second round later, had to go on the offensive. At the halfway stage, Métraux is one stroke ahead of China's Ruoning Yin. Nelly Korda, the world number one, was in second place until three holes before the end - and then fell far behind with a quadruple bogey (4 over par due to two balls into the water) and another bogey.
Morgane Métraux's brilliant performance was astonishing. When she spoke of possible medals before the tournament, it was actually a long shot. Certainly: Morgane Métraux won the Evian tournament in May. However, this event in France is not on the LPGA Tour calendar. Morgane Métraux is only ranked 137th in the world rankings and has missed the cut at three of her last six tournaments. On the LPGA Tour, she even missed the prize money (or the cut) at 10 of the last 15 tournaments. Only once - immediately after her tournament victory in Evian - has she finished as high as the last two days at the Summer Games in Paris with a 5th place on the women's tour.
The second Swiss player, Albane Valenzuela, dropped from 13th to 26th place with a round of 74 (2 over par).
