Mehaffey 11th and LeBlanc 19th after opening 73s in Youth Olympics
Golf is back in the Olympics
The Island's Kevin LeBlanc and Royal County Down Ladies' Olivia Mehaffey opened with one over par 73s in the Youth Olympics Games at Zhongshan International Golf Club in Nanjing, China.
LeBlanc, 16, was one over after carding three bogeys and two birdies on the front nine and then slipped to three over with bogeys at the 13th and 14th before birdies at the 16th and 18th left him tied for 19th, seven strokes behind leaders Marcus Kinhult of Sweden and Brett Coletta of Australia, who fired six under 66s to lead by one from Thailand's Danthai Boonma.
Mehaffey, 16, is tied for 11th on one over but just four strokes behind co-leaders Virginia Elena Carta of Italy, Taiwan's Ssu-Chia Cheng, South Korea's Soyoung Lee and Japan's Maria Shinohara.
She was three over after bogeys at the first, eighth and ninth but battled back well to birdie the 11th, 13th and 16th before a bogey at the par-three 17th left her on one-over.
Coletta posted a bogey free round of 66 with birdies on the first, fourth, fifth, seventh, 11th and 15thholes. Coletta, who plays out of Sandhurst Golf club in Melbourne, said, “I came out this morning and I knew it was a strong field. I didn’t know what to expect to be honest but I came out strong. But, you know, there are two days to go.
“I was a bit nervous on the first tee. Just saying the Olympic word and that it is 100 years since golf’s been in, you’ve hit the nail on the head, yes, I’m very proud to play an Olympic competition.”
Kinhult finished with three birdies in his last four holes to secure his 66. His only bogey came on the 17th but he holed from 20 feet on the last for his seventh birdie of the day to finish on six-under-par and take a share of the lead.
“It was good today, I was playing well and my ball-striking was good from tee to green,” said Kinhult, who was part of the Swedish team which finished second in the European Boys’ Team Championship in Oslo last month.
“Of course I want to win a medal. I want to win the competition but if I could get a medal I would be very happy.”
The highlight of the day came from Tony Gil who made a 164 yard hole-in-one on the third hole. The young Canadian made the first hole-in-one in Olympic history on his way to a three-under-par 69.
“It was a bit humid today so I used a 7-iron. I knew I’d hit it close but didn't know it was in until I went to the green and saw the ball in the hole.”
It was only after the round that Gil realised he had made a little bit of history with the first hole-in-one in an Olympic competition.
“Oh really? That’s very cool. It was actually the first hole-in-one in my career too!” he said.
The Individual Strokeplay competitions are played over 54 holes but Mehaffey and LeBlanc are also entered the Mixed event which features fourballs, foursomes and individual play on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Men's Individual Strokeplay
1 KINHULT Marcus SWE 66 66 -6
1 COLETTA Brett AUS 66 66 -6
3 BOONMA Danthai THA 67 67 -5
4 HOVLAND Viktor NOR 68 68 -4
5 MACINTYRE Robert GBR 69 69 -3
5 DOU Zecheng CHN 69 69 -3
5 GIL Tony CAN 69 69 -3
5 LIEBICH Jonas GER 69 69 -3
5 ELISSALDE Paul FRA 69 69 -3
5 YU Chun-An TPE 69 69 -3
11 HUA Devin GUM 70 70 -2
11 PULTZ PINNERUP AXE DEN 70 70 -2
11 STIRN Zan Luka SLO 70 70 -2
11 CANTERO GUTIERREZ Ivan ESP 70 70 -2
15 LOW Khai Jei MAS 71 71 -1
15 COXON Nick NZL 71 71 -1
17 YOUM Eun Ho KOR 72 72 PAR
17 PARATORE Renato ITA 72 72 PAR
19 TERRAZAS MORALES Aaron MEX 73 73 +1
19 GAREWAL Feroz IND 73 73 +1
19 LINDELL Oliver FIN 73 73 +1
19 GARCIA Jorge VEN 73 73 +1
19 KEUNEN Lars NED 73 73 +1
19 Le BLANC Kevin IRL 73 73 +1
25 de BONDT Alan BEL 77 77 +5
25 PENNINGTON James SWZ 77 77 +5
27 LAM Lucas Chadwick HKG 79 79 +7
28 CABARCOS Marcos PAN 80 80 +8
29 OKAZAKI Ren JPN 81 81 +9
29 McCLATCHIE Kyle James RSA 81 81 +9
31 KIRIA Rayman Winston Nicolas COK 92 92 +20
32 SCHWAB Johannes AUT 100 100 +28
Women's Individual Strokeplay
1 CARTA Virginia Elena ITA 69 69 -3
1 CHENG Ssu-Chia TPE 69 69 -3
1 LEE Soyoung KOR 69 69 -3
1 SHINOHARA Maria JPN 69 69 -3
5 ELMASSIAN Elizabeth AUS 70 70 -2
5 ALVAREZ Julianne NZL 70 70 -2
7 VEYSSEYRE Marion FRA 71 71 -1
7 MERCHAN Maria Andreina VEN 71 71 -1
7 HARRYVAN Marit NED 71 71 -1
10 FASSI ALVAREZ Maria Jose MEX 72 72 PAR
11 MEHAFFEY Olivia IRL 73 73 +1
11 BARQUIN AROZAMENA Celia ESP 73 73 +1
11 SANGCHAN Supamas THA 73 73 +1
11 NORDAAS Sandra NOR 73 73 +1
11 MEICHTRY Azelia SUI 73 73 +1
16 ASHOKAditi IND 74 74 +2
16 SZERYK Madeline CAN 74 74 +2
16 AVELING Clara BEL 74 74 +2
19 GOICOECHEA RUIZ Sofia ARG 75 75 +3
19 STROM Linnea SWE 75 75 +3
19 PEDERSEN Emily Kristine DEN 75 75 +3
22 SALONEN Sandra FIN 76 76 +4
22 BELAC Ana SLO 76 76 +4
22 COWAN Olivia GER 76 76 +4
25 TAM Kitty HKG 78 78 +6
26 ZEITLER Lea AUT 79 79 +7
26 KAN Kah Yan MAS 79 79 +7
28 VONGJALORN Nalathai GUM 81 81 +9
29 TELFER Kaleigh Dene RSA 82 82 +10
30 AKAMA Memory COK 88 88 +16
WD KGOMO Nosimilo SWZ
WD D|MMOCKAnnabe| GBR
