Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux had no intention of letting her second Olympics opportunity pass her by. After qualifying for Tokyo 2020, she chose to skip the Games to focus on earning her LPGA Tour card. The decision paid off, and the Swiss earned full status for the 2022 season.
Flash forward to the 2024 Paris Olympics, and not only is Metraux in the field, but also she holds a one-shot lead after the first two rounds at Le Golf National, bolstered by a 6-under 66 on Thursday that featured a blistering front-nine 28 that set an Olympic record.
“Perfect conditions, and the course is just perfect,” said Metraux, 27, who already has a title in France under her belt this season thanks to a win in May at the Jabra Ladies Open on the Ladies European Tour. “If you hit a good putt, you know it’s going to go in because the greens are rolling so well.
“I was really calm. I knew my game is in a good spot, and I was rolling it well. I was actually surprisingly very calm starting the round. The difference between yesterday and today at the beginning is just the putts that fell. It brought me confidence going forward, and I tried to stay as present as I could and one shot at a time. It went pretty well.”
Her composure kept the former Florida State University All-American in the driver’s seat during a bumpy back nine that featured a bogey at the par-4 13th after Metraux laid up out of the deep left rough and a bogey at the par-4 15th after finding the water on her approach. She got one back with a birdie in between, draining a 10-foot, 5-inch putt on 14.
Metraux still held a three-shot lead on the field standing in the fairway at the par-5 18th, but she found the water again while going for the green in two, her approach from 177 yards out splashing in front of the green.
“I actually didn’t even think about laying up,” she said of the decision. “I just didn’t quite catch it and hit it a bit left and low. It hit the wood (wall surrounding the green). So it was probably missing like 3 feet to be fine. But it is what it is. It’s fine. Only got a bogey out of it. I wish I didn’t, but it’s fine. I’m still in a great position for the last two days.”
Metraux has been soaking in her Olympics experience since arriving in Paris, even staying at the Athlete Village for two nights.
“It’s very, very cool,” Metraux said. “It’s cool to be amongst all the other athletes and just walk around and see them be themselves and not in their sports and do their own thing and see everybody in their country shirts does stuff. It’s just a really, really cool atmosphere.”
It’s been a far different experience than what she would have had in Tokyo – which Metraux knows firsthand since it was none other than her older sister Kim who ended up taking her spot on Team Switzerland when Metraux chose to forgo playing in the 2020 Games.
“I was quite happy that she could take my spot,” Metraux said. “If anybody could take my spot, I was hoping it would be her and it worked out. She had a bit of a different experience because of the whole COVID-19 thing. The atmosphere was very different, but she had stars in her eyes when she came back.”
Metraux has had her own starry-eyed experience in Paris and says she couldn’t be prouder to don her Team Switzerland uniform, something she has done seven times during her junior and amateur career.
“It’s always fun to see Swiss flags and (hear) people shouting my name,” Metraux said. “When I make a birdie, they make a lot of noise. It’s fun to know there are so many people supporting me. I don’t take it as pressure. I’m just happy I can perform in front of them and have that much support, so it’s really fun.”
China’s Ruoning Yin sits in second place one shot behind Metraux on seven-under-par after firing a bogey-free second round of 65 (-7).
Two-time Olympic medallist Lydia Ko of New Zealand is in third place after she carded a 67 (-5) to move herself into medal contention once again.
Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe and Slovenia’s Pia Babnik are in a tie for fourth place on four-under-par with six players one shot further back in a share of sixth place.
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