Paris Olympics: golf (01-08-2024)

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I arrive at the RER stop near the hotel, which should take me directly to the shuttle departure station, but I discover that the first train arriving there is in half an hour. Fortunately, I hear some French people say that you can also take the first train, in a few, minutes, and then change: after checking, I do so. The train also goes to the Château de Versailles: I also meet a group going to see the horse riding. At the departure of the shuttles there are still a lot of people, even though the game has already started a while ago: the start was at 9am, but I had never thought of being there at that time, my goal was to arrive for the departure of the first Italian, Migliozzi, at 10.22am. To get there you have to do a long serpentine: a volunteer, seeing me with my kneepads on, offers me to skip it: I refuse, but on the way back they insist and I accept. In reality the serpentine made no sense to anyone, there was no crowd to justify it (least of all on the way back).

 The shuttle leaves soon, the journey takes about twenty minutes. On arrival, there is an initial check of backpacks by the police (less thorough than yesterday, however), but then there is quite a stretch to get to the entrance, with ticket and backpack checks again. Once inside, there is still quite a bit of walking to do before we see the course. I see that by now my goal of seeing Migliozzi's start is missed, seeing that there are signs of a shortcut towards hole 4 I consider chasing him, but then I decide to follow Manassero, who starts at 10.55: I should have just enough time to go to the bathroom and get a drink, but then I postpone the latter because of the queues and considering that there should be other kiosks at hole 2. I see a lot of people getting burgers at 10.45.

  

I find out that the first spot on the course we see is not the start, but the green at hole 1. I therefore decide to wait for Manassero's group, the one before, consisting of a Thai, a Chinese and a Mexican, has just arrived. An Italian lady, with a strong Tuscan accent, seeing from my painted cheeks that I am a compatriot, asks me when the Italians are arriving. I notice that some golfers are wearing the national colours, others only a small badge, so when I see a player wearing a blue polo shirt I think he is the Italian, instead it is the Colombian Villegas: Manassero is wearing a darker blue shirt and trousers of the same colour.

 Having completed the first hole, I set off to follow the group, which in addition to Manassero and Villegas includes the Chinese Yuan. With me are a few Italians, but also a few Chinese and Colombians (of course, along with many others from other nations). In general, after the French the nationality most present is definitely the American, but I also meet many Finns (who have a player two groups after ours) and Danes. Then you always see Britons, Irish and Germans, and even a few Australians and South Africans. When I read that Migliozzi is already at -2 for a moment I think about going to follow him, but then I'm afraid that I have a long way to go in a short time: I will definitely abandon the idea when I see that he is already down to -1.

 At 4 o'clock I find out from the scorekeeper (the one following with the sign) that Manassero is at -1. I hadn't realised that he had made a birdie: I later discovered that I hadn't actually realised that hole 3 was a par 5 and not 4 (it seemed strange to me that there were no par 5s until 9th). At the 6th I start to feel the fatigue and I think about how I will get to the end, if I get there at all. In the meantime, however, it's a downhill hole that can be followed all the way from a hill: I can see it sitting down (on the ground, of course: there is only one grandstand, at the finish of the 18th, and it requires another ticket). At the 7th Manassero makes a birdie with a long putt, after missing a few by a small margin, and went to -2.

After the first shot of the 9th (par 5) I see that to follow it one has to take a winding road, while moving to the other side one can follow from 10th to 12th, at least the start, moving little. Since my energy is low, I decide to wait for the players on the green of the 10th. I see the rest of the 9th and I don't notice Manassero making a bogey, on the other hand I see his splendid second shot on the 10th, which puts him in position for an easy birdie. The 11th, on the other hand, without moving is not as clear as I thought: I don't notice that Manassero has made a double bogey, I can only see it from the score on the next hole (from a distance, it is not easy to distinguish when a player hits the ball from when he is only rehearsing, or inspecting the green).

 After the first shot on the 12th, I get going again, but the tiredness and heat are becoming more and more noticeable. I should also drink and go to the bathroom, but in order to do so I would have to detour, and it's already so much that I manage to make it the rest of the way, let alone any other way. I arrive at the 14th, where Manassero makes a beautiful approach shot from behind the bunkers and closes with a birdie, returning under par. At this point, I find myself where I was at the beginning and where there are kiosks and bathrooms: I therefore decide to stop. After the stop, I give up chasing the players on the 15th, which I don't even really understand where it is, and stop on the green of the 17th, where Migliozzi's group has just arrived. I read that Manassero had made the birdie and was again at -2, while Migliozzi was at -3 and the first, Matsuyama, at -8.

After Manassero's group had passed the green on the 17th, I wanted to follow them onto the 18th, but I was having trouble finding the tee: when I did find it, however, they hadn't left yet because they were waiting for the previous group. Arriving at the green on the 18th, the scoreboard gives instructions in case of bad weather, yet there are barely any clouds and a bit of wind. I see Manassero close with a par, at -2. Originally the idea was to sit in the grandstand to watch a few more finishes before going, but as I said, I discover that he requires a different ticket: at the Ryder Cup it wasn't like that, but anyway I suspected it as I had seen that there were more people sitting on the grass in front than in the grandstand

So I decide to end here: I eat, buy some merchandise (there's a very big shop) and look for the exit, only to discover that I have to go back to the green on the 17th: if I'd known, I don't know if I'd have gone to the 18th, but anyway it was worth it because of the shop. In passing, I find out that play has been suspended due to lightning risk: it seems a little strange considering that it is raining very little and at the same time there is still hot sunshine, but especially thinking of the conditions in which the last British Open was played. I then hear that it will soon start again, and in fact during the course they make us stop to let players pass; my neighbours (not me) recognise Fitzpatrick and Schauffele. Later on I meet Morikawa and at least I recognise him, it's easier.

Not many people come out, there's no queue at the shuttle, in fact you have to wait for it to fill up. At least there is a seat anyway. And tomorrow the grand finale with athletics,