Tokyo Olympics: Golfer Gavin ends day one with a three-over 74

TOKYO: National golfer Gavin Green's hopes of an ideal start were blown off course when he ended up in joint 57th spot in the field of 60 golfers at the end of the first round of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics today.

The opening round at the Kasumigaseki Country Club here, which was delayed for over two hours due to bad weather, saw the 27-year-old tied with Chinese Taipei's Pan Cheng-tsung after both carded identical three-over 74s.

Gavin played par golf in the first six holes but then carded a bogey at the par-four seventh before making amends with a birdie at the par-five eighth.

In the return journey, Gavin carded four bogeys and a birdie to end the day at three-over 74 in the star-studded line-up.

Austrian Sepp Straka put up a near-flawless performance to fire eight birdies en route to eight-under 63 and a slim one-shot lead over Thai debutant Jazz Janewattananond.

Belgian Thomas Pieters and Mexican Thomas Pieters carded identical six-under 65s to trail Sepp by two strokes.

The second round of the four-round competition is scheduled to begin Friday (July 30) at 7.30 am local time (6.30am Malaysian time).

In the 2016 Rio edition, Gavin finished 47th when golf returned to the Olympics after a 112-year absence.

-- BERNAMA