Rio de Janeiro: Britain’s Justin Rose, the 2013 US Open champion, fired the first hole-in-one on the new Rio Olympic Golf Course on Thursday with an ace at the par-three fourth hole. In the opening round of the first Olympic golf tournament in 112 years, Rose blasted his tee shot into the cup from 188 yards. The Englishman is thought to have the first hole-in-one in Olympic history, with his shot sending Games records-keepers scurrying to the archives to find out for certain.
He sandwiched the ace between birdies at the third and fifth holes but a bogey at the par-three sixth left him on three under, level fifth in the early going on a windy day. Earlier, Brazilian professional Adilson da Silva hit the first stroke in 112 years, smacking the ball off the opening tee and into the first fairway. A field of 60 will compete over 72 holes of stroke play for a gold medal and berths in all four 2017 major championships, with the final round on Sunday.
Burrowing owls, capybaras — the world’s largest rodents — alligator-like caimans and even a nine-foot crocodile can be found along the course, although they typically shy away from players. The field includes six major winners — current British Open champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden, Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, England’s Justin Rose and reigning Masters champion Danny Willett, two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson of the USA and Germany’s Martin Kaymer.
Hosts blank denmark as Argentina exit:
Sought-after starlet Gabriel Barbosa struck twice as Brazil’s footballers finally got their Olympic campaign rolling with a 4-0 demolition of Denmark on Wednesday, while their arch-rivals Argentina crashed out. Barcelona star Neymar is still yet to hit the net, but he played the role of facilitator as Gabriel Jesus and Luan were also on target to end a run of over 200 minutes without a goal after stalemates with Iraq and South Africa raised fears of an embarrassing early exit.
Brazil’s much-needed victory sealed top spot in Group A to set up a quarter-final meeting with Colombia on Saturday. Crisis-hit Argentina didn’t survive a sluggish start as they were dumped out by Honduras after they drew 1-1, whilst 2012 gold medallists Mexico were also sent packing. Germany smashed Pacific islanders Fiji 10-0 to seal their place in the last eight behind South Korea, who beat Mexico 1-0 thanks to Kwon Chang-Hoon’s stunning strike in Brasilia.
Colombia moved into the knockout stages by beating Nigeria 2-0 with captain Teo Gutierrez and Dorlan Pabon on target. The Africans had already done enough to top Group B, rendering Japan’s 1-0 win over Sweden meaningless.
