Florida State’s Morgane Metraux playing for gold medal finish at Olympic Golf Championship

PARIS – Florida State All-American Morgane Metraux, who is playing for her home country of Switzerland, eagled her final hole of the third round and is in a tie for first place heading into Saturday’s fourth and final round of the Olympic Women’s Golf Tournament at Le Golf National.

Metraux, who has held the lead following the second and third rounds, shot a 1 under par score of 71 on Friday and has a three-round total of 9 under par 207. She is tied for first place with Lydia Ko of New Zealand.

“My hybrid,” she said when asked which club she hit her approach shot on 18. “I hit my driver a little too short. I was in between 5-iron and hybrid.”

The final round of the championship is set for Saturday.

Live scoring of the championship can be found here.

Metraux played at Florida State from 2016-2019 and is looking to become the first Seminole golfer to earn a medal at the Olympics. Four Seminoles -- Gabby Carle, Soccer (Gold), Kaleigh Rafter, Softball (Bronze), Casey Short, Soccer (Bronze), and Head Softball Coach Lonni Alameda, Softball (Silver), most recently earned medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“I stayed patient today,” said Metraux. “That was the key. I focused on myself and didn't let what everybody else was doing get to me. I know this course is very difficult, and any hole can get to you at any point. Nelly (Korda) was a perfect example yesterday. She had a great round and just one hole cost her a lot. So you have to just be on the whole time and focus on yourself, and I was able to do that today.”

Metraux began the third round in first place in the standings. She moved into the leaders spot with an eagle and birdie-filled second round score of 66.

With only one birdie on the back nine, and having gone from overnight leader for the first time in her career, to two strokes off out of the lead, Metraux approached over her second shot on the par-5 18th. She then hit her best shot of the day, to 19 feet of the hole, and made an eagle-3. Her eagle took her from over par to under par on the day as she finished with a 1 under par score of 71.

The eagle also allowed her to move back into first place with a share of the lead at 9 under par.

“Today was fun. It was a lot of fun,” said Metraux following her round. “I was a lot more calm and serene than I thought I was going to be. It really helped playing with girls I knew and who are super nice, too. Yes, I had a lot of fun, and things just didn't quite drop for most of the round for me. But I stayed really patient and it paid off on last hole.

“I came in this week, just telling myself, it's medal or nothing. So just give it everything, obviously without attacking too much but within reason. I think I need to go into every event with that mentality because it seems to be working well. It's fun to play in front of so many people. It’s fun to play in front of so many people, to have so much support and play so close to home, too. It's really a lot of fun.”

Olympic Women’s Golf TV schedule

Metraux will play in the coveted final group beginning at 6:39 a.m. (ET) with Ko and Rose Zhang of the United States.

Golf Channel will air the 2024 Women’s Olympic Golf event on TV.

Saturday, August 10: 3 a.m.-end of round (Golf Channel)

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU golfer Morgane Metraux playing for Olympic Gold, leads golf