Jon Rahm plays a shot on the sixth hole. GETTY IMAGES

Another great day at Le Golf National. Another amazing performances, but a tournament that remains wide open for Sunday, the day when the medals will be decided. Fleetwood is just one shot behind. Hojgaard and Matsuyama are three behind.

Many players are holding the pace to try to chase a medal in Paris 2024. More golfers compete in the classic tournaments than in the Games, and it is usual to reach the fourth day with fewer players with a chance of winning.

The three leaders after the second day have struggled a bit to stay on top. Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, who finished as solo leader on Thursday, could only make par on Saturday. He recovered the bogeys of the first part of the round, but a new bogey on the 16th hole has left him with the same -11 with which he finished Friday. Fourth, tied with Norwegian Nicolai Hojgaard.

British Tommy Fleetwood had a quiet day, focusing on not making any mistakes. He only made one bogey, on the 12th hole. He has two bogeys in three days of competition. Today he has made 69 strokes, -2, for a total of -13. That puts him third in the standings.



The American Xander Schauffele, current Olympic champion, started with a bogey on hole 2. It took him a while to recover, but he turned it around and made an eagle on the 14th hole, which led him to sign a card of 68 strokes, -3, and is now co-leader with -14.



Schauffele has changed partner in the lead. The Spanish Jon Rahm continues to have a very consistent performance. He does not have the best rounds, but all of them are very good. 67 on the first day, 66 on the second and another 66 on the third. -14 in total and all the options to take the gold this Sunday. Although he has made it clear what his weak point is: the 8th hole, where he has bogeyed all three days.



Hojgaard deserves a special mention. As he is fourth in the standings, but also because he has played the best round of the three days. 62 strokes, nine under par, equalling the record of this course, which hosted the Ryder Cup in 2018. Until now, the record was held by his brother Rasmus, who achieved it at the French Open in 2022. Yesterday he witnessed the exhibition of his former partners, the Belgian Thomas Detry and the German Stephan Jaeger. Today he has given the exhibition, and he is ahead of those other two players.

This is not the end of the list of golfers who are medal hopefuls. At least those within five strokes or less of third place must be considered. With -10, there are some very important names: the world number one, the American Scottie Scheffler, also very consistent, the Irishman Rory McIlroy, who has finally managed to get among the best, and the South Korean Tom Kim, who has had to work hard to make a good round, as well as Detry.




On -9, four behind in third and five behind the leaders, are Sweden's Ludvig Aberg, Australia's Jason Day and Chile's Joaquin Niemann. Players who could be very dangerous on the last day, each with very different characteristics and experience. Six strokes off the lead are the South Africans Christiaan Bezuidenhout (64 strokes today, -7) and Erik Van Rooyen, the Frenchman Victor Perez and the Dane Thorbjorn Olesen. 

So far, 16 players. The rest have it very difficult, but we will have to see if they can make a strong push on Sunday. South Korea's An Byeong-Hun was giving it today. He was on track to break the course record, after making eight birdies in the first 11 holes, but a double bogey on the 13th hole and a bogey on the 17th have halted his great day and he now has a total score of -7. There are also the Chinese Taipei C.T. Pan, bronze medallist at Tokyo 2020, the Canadian Coret Conners and the Argentinian Alejandro Tosti.

The negative news on Saturday came from Briton Matt Fitzpatrick, who has decided to withdraw due to a thumb injury. He arrived in Paris with that problem, and today he has been decisive. Fitzpatrick did not have a good start to the tournament, but on Friday he was one of the best, with 64 strokes, which put him back in medal contention. Today he had a day to forget. He hit the ball three times into the water, once on the 13th hole and twice on the 15th. A total of 81 strokes, the worst card of the three days.