As the ultimate spherical of the Olympic males’s golf occasion performed out Sunday, it was exhausting to fathom a greater leaderboard. Among the many contenders jockeying for gold, silver and bronze: the world’s greatest participant (Scottie Scheffler); the world’s hottest participant (Xander Schauffele); Europe’s greatest participant (Rory McIlroy); Asia’s greatest participant (Hideki Matsuyama); LIV Golf’s largest expertise (Jon Rahm); a homeland hero (France’s Victor Perez); a South Korean with way more at stake than only a medal (Tom Kim); and an Englishman enjoying for simply the most important title of his profession (Tommy Fleetwood).

Did we miss anybody? Most likely. As a result of in what was an electrical end on a course with hazard lurking round each nook, it felt at instances like anybody inside a landing of the lead had a shot on the podium.

It was exhausting to fathom a greater ambiance, too. Three years after Olympic golfers competed in eerie quiet in entrance of solely a smattering of officers and media within the Covid-plagued Tokyo Video games, the Paris Video games’ watery and rough-choked host web site — Le Golf Nationwide, a couple of 45-minute drive southwest of the town heart — was a powder keg of roars and groans and giddy nationalism.

Perez and his fellow countryman, Matthieu Pavon, have been greeted by the heaving galleries with rousing renditions of “La Marseillaise,” the French nationwide anthem. However the locals weren’t the one gamers feeling the love. Rahm described the assist from Spaniards within the crowd as “mind-blowing.” On the primary tee Thursday, Shane Lowry was greatly surprised by the cheers he heard from the Irish trustworthy. “It was practically off-putting a bit bit,” he stated. “Like, wow, I wasn’t anticipating that, and I bought goosebumps and I hit a very dangerous tee shot.”

Added Schauffele, after a disappointing Sunday 73 that left him seven again of Scheffler’s gold-medal-winning tally (19 beneath) and 5 again of Matsuyama’s bronze (17 beneath): “That is the sort of subject and sort of present the event wants and for all the highest gamers to really feel like they need to play it.”

However there was additionally one other much less tangible theme that made this event so riveting: the absence of a handbag. In an period of males’s skilled golf that has been dominated by discuss of swelling payouts and mind-bending nine-figure contracts, for 4 sun-splashed, chant-filled days within the Paris suburbs, the world’s greatest golfers competed for nothing greater than their flags. (OK, some nations’ Olympic packages pay out for medals, however by males’s pro-golf requirements, these bonuses are nominal.)

The irony of arguably the 12 months’s most stirring and memorable event paying out a pittance gave the impression to be misplaced on few gamers, least of all Rory McIlroy, who for a lot of the final three years has performed the function of five-star Normal within the golf institution’s battle in opposition to oil-fueled riches and shotgun begins. McIlroy stated after a final-round 66 that left him two photographs shy of a playoff for bronze that this Olympics was “top-of-the-line particular person competitions I’ve been part of.” This from a man who has performed in 63 majors.

“I nonetheless suppose that the Ryder Cup is one of the best event that now we have in our sport, pure competitors, and I believe this has the potential to be proper up there with it,” McIlroy stated. “I believe with how a lot of a sh*tshow the sport of golf is true now and you consider the 2 tournaments that may be the purest type of competitors in our sport, we don’t play for cash in it. It speaks volumes for what’s necessary in sports activities and what’s necessary.”

Possibly you’re rolling your eyes and pondering, Right here goes Rory once more, up on his highfalutin soapbox. However right here’s the factor: Practically to a participant, McIlroy’s fellow Olympians hit the identical feel-good notes. As they walked off the course Sunday and signed their playing cards, the Olympic spirit all however oozed from their pores.   

Tom Kim, who shot 68 to complete at 13 beneath, wept in scoring, later explaining how he had burned to signify Korea in Paris, and the way “brutal” the preparation course of had been for him. “Then as soon as the spherical finishes, every little thing is finished and finished,” he stated. “I believe the feelings that I’ve held on this 12 months are popping out.”

Scheffler, not often a crier in public, additionally bought choked up — on the rostrum. “I take great delight in coming over right here and representing my nation,” he would say later.

Jon Rahm, after enjoying the final eight holes in 5 over to complete in a crushing tie for fifth, didn’t know how one can describe the sting he was feeling. “I don’t keep in mind the final time I performed a event and I felt this,” he stated. “I don’t know what the phrase is as a result of, you understand, I not solely really feel like I let myself down however to only not get it finished for the entire nation of Spain, it’s much more painful than I would love it to be.” Rahm added: “I believe by shedding at present, I’m getting a a lot deeper appreciation of what this event means to me than if I had gained any medal, proper? I’m getting a style of how a lot it actually mattered.”

Jason Day had golf followers reaching for Kleenex when he stated the week “introduced out previous emotions that I assumed I didn’t have and I nonetheless have deep down and why we play golf and why we like it a lot.”

Did this week repair golf? In fact not. The PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund are nonetheless deep in negotiations about how one can knock down limitations within the males’s professional sport and convey one of the best gamers collectively extra ceaselessly. Debate additionally will proceed to rage among the many gamers and their representatives about “equitable” pay, in opposition to a backdrop of a $100 million FedEx Cup bonus pool on the PGA Tour and $20 million first-place checks on LIV.

However for one wonderful week a minimum of, issues felt…totally different. Los Angeles 2028 can’t come quickly sufficient.   

Alan Bastable

Golf.com Editor

As GOLF.com’s government editor, Bastable is accountable for the editorial course and voice of one of many sport’s most revered and extremely trafficked information and repair websites. He wears many hats — modifying, writing, ideating, creating, daydreaming of someday breaking 80 — and feels privileged to work with such an insanely proficient and hardworking group of writers, editors and producers. Earlier than grabbing the reins at GOLF.com, he was the options editor at GOLF Journal. A graduate of the College of Richmond and the Columbia College of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey along with his spouse and foursome of youngsters.