Rory McIlroy, Jason Day pair up for round 3 at 2024 Paris Olympic Games
Playing for medals, not millions. It’s not something golfers at the Paris Olympics are used to. For Aussie star Jason Day, who joined Rory McIlroy on the course for round three, a medal means more.
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Playing for Australia instead of millions more dollars in prize money is driving a humbled Jason Day to continue his stunning fight for a medal at Le Golf National.
Paired with crowd favourite Rory McIlroy – who received thunderous applause for simply selecting a club from his bag – Day remained laser-focused to charge through the star-studded field and into the final day at -9 – five shots behind co-leaders Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele.
Used to playing for millions of dollars, the quality field of golfers is adjusting to the realisation there’s nothing worthwhile after bronze.
Making his Olympic debut, Day said the four-day round meant “a lot more” than he tipped it would.
“Typically, we’re always constantly trying to win tournaments on the PGA Tour … we look at the money,” he said.
“You’re earning a medal and I think that brings out something deep from when you’re a junior golfer or an amateur golfer, that it means something more than just the money at the end of the day.
“It’s definitely opened my eyes, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed representing something bigger than myself.”
Day knows he has work to do to make the podium Sunday and insists he’ll be pushing.
McIlroy agreed golf at the Olympic Games delivered an unfamiliar experience.
“I was in a certain mindset going into Tokyo and I left with a different mindset, just like I’ve done a lot of times in my career because I’m ignorant and naive and don’t give things much thought – but once you experience things you start to see what the hype is about,” he said.
“It’s a really nice environment to play in, I feel French this week with the amount of Allez Rorys I’ve had out there it’s been really cool.”
Three late bogeys untied some of the hard work by Australia’s Min Woo Lee, who goes into the final round -4.
On course it was all about crowd favourite McIlroy – fierce competitor and a staunch protector of the old game.
He held the crowd’s attention for four-and-a-half hours battling around France’s home of golf.
That he hasn’t won a major tournament in a decade didn’t matter to his thousands of faithful followers, who marched like ants alongside fairways as McIlroy trundled towards each green.
As he was teeing off on one hole they went to the next, desperate to score a good vantage spot and await their hero.
Screams of “c’mon Rory” erupted with almost every step the Northern Irishman took around the 7174-yard course.
Lots of green, but little gold could be found in the crowd following McIlroy and Day.
Alex Ryan and Peter Brennan from Melbourne were two of the few Australians in the pro-Ireland mob.
“We only booked the tickets yesterday … we’re here for Jason,” Mr Brennan said.
“A lot more of the crowd are behind Rory, there’s not too many Aussies here but we are.”
For golf, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has delivered a boost to the traditional game.
It delivered a star-studded field where, in a divided golfing world, the top three ranked players are competing.
There are no LIV party holes with flying beer cans and deafening DJs.
Instead, a polite but loud crowd was enthusiastic about the rock stars of the game – no bigger than McIlroy, Rahm, and hometown favourite Victor Perez.
While the crowd has backed the event, using world rankings to build the Olympic golf field has reopened festering wounds between PGA and LIV players.
Seven golfers from the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV league arrived in Paris to quickly complain about the game’s “politics” keeping more colleagues from representing their country at an Olympics.
McIlroy, once the fiercest critic of LIV but has taken a softer tone recently, suggested they suck it up.
“If you want to qualify for the Olympics, you knew what you had to do,” he said before the tournament.
The “politics” hasn’t stopped the LIV squad from charging with its most famous recruit, Rahm, tied for first.
Originally published as Rory McIlroy, Jason Day pair up for round 3 at 2024 Paris Olympic Games
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