LIV Golf Leaderboard At The Olympics: Jon Rahm And Joaquin Niemann Flying High

Two of LIV Golf's biggest and brightest names maintained their pursuit for a medal at the halfway stage of the men's Olympic golf tournament .

Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann remained inside the top-10 at Le Golf National after another prime day of scoring, with Rahm moving up three places to solo fourth on the leaderboard after his Friday 66 (-5) left him on to nine-under for the event.

Reacting to a round which contained six birdies and just one bogey, the Spaniard admitted there was plenty of his game which pleased him. He said: "Well, today, was how well I hit it off the tee. I missed one fairway only.

"And it's not a golf course that is long. So you're not going to have chances, right. And if you put it in the fairway for the most part, you are giving yourself short irons in.

"But, overall, ball-striking was really good. It's always fun to play days like that where you're swinging and it's always going on line and almost always going the right distance, right. It just means you're going to have a fun day, and a fun day it was."

Meanwhile, Niemann - who leads the LIV Golf money list after two early wins this season - dropped down to T10 on six-under after he could only manage a one-under round of 70 to back up his opening 66.

The Chilean carded three birdies but two bogeys - including one at the last - as his relative struggles around the greens cost him over half a shot on the field.

Both are now chasing a handful of PGA Tour powerhouses, with Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, and Tommy Fleetwood leading the way on -11. It was Fleetwood who enjoyed the best Friday of the trio, though, via a second-round 64 which was bogey free until the 18th hole.

Niemann will not give up,  though, with the huge incentive of a place at all four Majors one of the perks of winning a gold medal .

"If you didn't have those four Majors for a win, I would have the same intensity," Niemann insisted.

"I will have the same motivation to win. I mean, I feel like this is Olympics and got to focus more on winning medals than winning my way into the Majors."

Meanwhile, David Puig and Carlos Ortiz are both back in a share of T19 on four-under - remaining just about in contention for a medal with two rounds still to go.

Rahm's fellow Spaniard, Puig mirrored his first-round 69 with another on Friday, carding four birdies and two bogeys compared to five and three on day one. It was a round of two halves for the Mexican, though, with Ortiz going out in 33 thanks to a hat-trick of birdies but coming home in 37 as a result of two bogeys and a double. Niemann's Torque teammate was three-over through his final two holes.

Abraham Ancer is the final LIV golfer in the red as things stand, despite battling to a level-par score of 71 on Friday. The Mexican double-bogeyed the ninth after making two on the par-3 moments earlier, while his back nine consisted of three birdies along with two bogeys. Ancer is one-under and in a share of 35th.

Struggling towards the bottom of the 60-man leaderboard are Chile's Mito Pereira and Poland's Adrian Meronk. Pereira (T54) is currently in last place among the LIV players following a disastrous round of 76 (+5) on Friday while Meronk - who would win a two-bed flat among other things with gold - carded a messy 71 to stay T52 on two-over for the tournament.

LIV Golf leaderboard at the Olympics: round 2

• 4: (-9) Jon Rahm
• T10: (-6) Joaquin Niemann
• T19: (-4) David Puig
• T19: (-4) Carlos Ortiz
• T35: (-1) Abraham Ancer
• T52: (+2) Adrian Meronk
• T54: (+3) Mito Pereira