Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux Rides Record 28 to Second-Round Lead at Le Golf National

Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux charged out of the gates on Thursday at Le Golf National, recording an Olympic nine-hole record of 8-under 28 and hung on through a bumpy 2-under back nine to seize the lead after Round 2 of the Olympic women’s golf competition.

After starting her day with a birdie at the first, the 27-year-old Metraux went on a tear, starting with an eagle at the par-5 third and then reeling off three straight birdies on Nos. 4-6. She capped her front nine with her second eagle of the day, dropping a putt from 15 feet, 7 inches to turn in 28 and record the best nine-hole score in both the men’s and women’s Olympic golf competitions to date.

 

“The difference between yesterday and today at the beginning is just the putts that fell,” said Metraux, whose previous best nine-hole score had been a front-nine 30 that came during the first round of the 2023 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G. “It just brought me confidence going forward and just tried to stay as present as I could and one shot at a time. It went pretty well.”

 

The momentum slowed on the back with a bogey-birdie-bogey stretch over holes 13 through 15, and she found the water with her second shot while trying to go for the green in two on the par-5 18th to finish with a bogey. 

 

Metraux, winner of two Ladies European Tour titles, including the 2024 the Jabra Ladies Open in Evian-les-Bains, France, holds a narrow one-stroke lead over China’s Ruoning Yin, who carded the round of the day with a bogey-free, 7-under 65. Two-time Olympic medalist and defending bronze medalist Lydia Ko (72-67) of New Zealand vaulted up the leaderboard and stands third. 

 

Also posting a notable second round was Slovenia’s Pia Babnik, who carded a 6-under 66 that featured a run of five straight birdies on Nos. 12-16. Babnik, who opened with a 2-over 74 in Round 1, improved 26 spots on the leaderboard and currently sits in a tie for fourth. 

 

First-round leader and Frenchwoman Celine Boutier, who opened with a 7-under 75 on Wednesday, struggled to a 4-over 76 in Round 2. She suffered a particularly rough stretch on the back nine, making double bogey at 13, bogey at 14 and double at 15. Defending gold medalist Nelly Korda had eventful final stretch en route to her second-round 70, making birdie at 15, quadruple bogey at 16, bogey at 17 and birdie at 18.

 

Other Notes and Quotes

• Solo 36-hole leader for the third consecutive time at the women’s Olympic golf competition; the 36-hole leader in Rio and Tokyo both went on to win the gold medal (Inbee Park/2016, Nelly Korda/2020)

• In 10 rounds at the Olympics, Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe’s 2-under 70 marks her second-lowest score in relation to par (66/-5/R4/2016); posted her second-straight 70 this week on Thursday. Uribe, one of four moms in the field, plans to retire from professional golf following the women’s Olympic golf competition

• In her second Olympics, Slovenia’s Pia Babnikincludes five consecutive birdies on holes 12-16 in a 6-under 66, her second round in the 60s in her second Olympics (67/R4/2020/T24). Babnik’s never posted five consecutive birdies in her career on the Ladies European Tour; previous best was four straight, recorded four times, most recently at the Aramco Team Series – Jeddah (R2/Nos. 15-18). Has recorded three top-10 finishes on the LET this year, including a season-best T6 at the Ladies Italian Open
• “It's amazing. Last time in Tokyo, we didn't have crowds, and I didn't know what to expect. But this week here, it's just amazing. I could play this every week. It's so much fun and it's so great to see people come and watch and cheer for us. It's just amazing.”

• First-round leader Céline Boutier slips to T6 following a second-round 76 which included three consecutive 6s on holes 13-15 (double bogey, bogey, double bogey)
• “Emotionally it was fine. Definitely feel like I left a few shots out there. Had a rough patch in the back and didn't really make as many birdie putts as I did yesterday. So definitely reflected in the score.”

• After an opening-round 72, Rolex Rankings No. 1 and Olympic Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda was bogey-free through 15 holes in the second round, and just two off the lead, before notching a quadruple-bogey 7 at the par-3 16^th hole and a bogey at No. 17; final-hole birdie capped a 2-under 70
• “If I can get my whole game together for the next two days, and if I would have done this on the last day or let's say the third day, then I would be extremely heart-broken. But I still have 36 more holes and anything can happen. I'm trying to see the positive in this. You know, Scottie came back, shot 9-under and he won. So you know, if you're hitting your shots, then you're staying present, and I think anything can happen.”