Sepp Straka leads after the first round of the Olympic men’s golf tournament

The first round of the 2020 Olympic men’s golf tournament is now in the books. On Thursday, Sepp Straka of Vienna, Austria is in the lead after a first-round score of -8. Straka’s score of 63, puts him one stroke up on Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand, two strokes up on Thomas Pieters of Belgium and Carlos Ortiz of Mexico, and three strokes up on Joachim B. Hansen of Denmark, Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela, and Juvic Pagunsan of the Philippines.

Straka had eight birdies and zero bogeys on his scorecard. He recorded birdies on the third, fifth, sixth, eighth, 13th, 14th, 15th and 17th holes. Straka is the leader despite a weather delay.

The leaderboard is fascinating at the moment. Of the seven players in contention, three players are from Europe, one from North America, one from South America, and two from southeast Asia.

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Straka does not have an overly successful golf resume. He has only been at two major championships. Straka finished tied for 28th at the 2019 United States Open and then tied for 66th at the 2020 PGA Championship. His lone career win came at the 2018 KC Golf Classic in Kansas City, Missouri where he beat American Kyle Jones. However, one must realize that tournament was not on the PGA Tour, but the web.com tour.

Even though Straka was born in Austria, he has lived in the United States since the age of 14. He played his university golf at the University of Georgia, the American university that two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson of Bagdad, Florida attended.

Heading into 2021, many people would have expected U.S. Open champ Dominic Thiem of Austria  to contend for an Olympic gold medal in tennis. However, he withdrew from the Olympic men’s tennis tournament.

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