Scottie Scheffler's 'divot goes further than the ball' as world No. 1 endures Olympic nightmare

Scottie Scheffler has fallen off the pace in the Olympic golf tournament after a nightmare at the seventh hole at Le Golf National on Friday.

The world No. 1 entered the tournament as the betting favorite to win the gold medal and he started solidly on Thursday with a four-under-par opening round of 67. He was firmly in medal contention, four shots back from overnight leader Hideki Matsuyama, who went round in eight-under.

But Masters champion Scheffler could not get anything going early in his second round and was level par for the day when he arrived at the par-four seventh. The 27-year-old is typically supreme with driver in hand, but he flared his tee shot wide right and only found his ball in the thick rough thanks to the help of playing partner Rory McIlroy.

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Scheffler caught a terrible lie but still took plenty of club in the hope of advancing the ball close to the green. Instead, his ball trickled just five yards forward and he could not conceal his frustration, angrily gesticulating to caddie Ted Scott.

Eight-time PGA Tour winner and Golf Channel pundit Brad Faxon said on the broadcast: "I think the divot went further than the ball."

When Scheffler approached his third shot, he had no choice but to hack back into the fairway. But he was imprecise with a wedge in his hand for his fourth, leaving a lengthy bogey putt, which he dribbled past the cup and he had to settle for a double bogey six.

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Scheffler dropped back to two-under for the tournament, nine shots behind Matsuyama and clubhouse leader Xander Schauffele. Birdies at 10 and 11 helped his cause to return to four-under, but he still has plenty of work to do if he wants to leave Paris with some metal around his neck, sitting five shots outside the medal places.

Scheffler's fellow Team USA star Schauffele has been in sensational form over the past three months, winning the PGA Championship and The Open. And he is in prime position to win his second Olympic gold medal after taking the title in Tokyo three years ago.

He backed up a six-under-par opening round with a five-under card on Friday to move into a share of first place. LIV Golf star Jon Rahm is also in the hunt, going round in five-under to improve to nine-under for the tournament. The Spaniard is in a tie for third place with Great Britain's Tommy Fleetwood.

Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark, the other American hopefuls in the field, are at four-under and two-over respectfully nearing the midway point of the tournament.