John Rathouz on Day 1 in Rio de Janiero
Round one of the Olympics is in the books and we shot Even par which was tied for 27th - we didn't shoot ourselves out of the running for the medal but it was a bit disappointing we didn't score better. There was some great energy on the first tee and Seamus and our other two playing partners were introduced and the first few holes were a whirlwind into the wind. We definitely got the tougher end of the draw with steady 20 mph winds all day and he played great to be at 1 under with the last 3 easier holes to go so it was tough we didn't get it in under par. Seamus hit a great 8 iron on the par 3 number 4 to about 8 feet and made the putt for his first birdie of the day and Justin Rose hooped it in the group behind us for the first Olympic hole-in-one.
There was lots of support out there from all sort of Irish people and our teammate Padraig Harrington got it in in 1 under. The dude from Australia went crazy low so hoping we can put something like that together for the second round and move up the leaderboard. Our captain Paul McGinley thought it was a good goal for Seamus to be in the top-10 after the first two rounds so guessing that's going to be around 4 or 5 under. It was great to meet Seamus' dad and some other relatives and his brother surprised him by flying in tonight. This evening we took in some handball, which is a hilarious sport that I feel I could probably play and a few heats of swimming. A great day and I was proud of how we competed and hope to pick up the scoring tomorrow. Cheers.
Once again, QED sincerely thanks John for not only his work on the course, but for taking the time to give us all a little insight into these Olympic Games. We anxiously await your next update!
Men's golf runs through the weekend, while the women tee off Wednesday (8/17) morning. Every round of golf in these Olympic games is available to stream live at NBC.
Click here to read John's first impressions of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and here to hear about the second round.