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Sepp Straka(Bild: GEPA)

Sepp Straka's dream of winning a medal at the Olympic Games will probably not come true! The 31-year-old made a strong start to the third round on Saturday at Le Golf National southwest of Paris, but lacked the consistency to make up ground.

After 18 holes, the strong five birdies were offset by four bogeys. With a round of 70, the native of Vienna only managed to improve his ranking marginally from 35th on Friday to 34th.

Sepp Straka(Bild: AFP or licensors)

"I'm too far away for a medal this time!"
Straka had flirted with a top three finish after finishing sixth in the opening round, but dropped back to 35th place the following day with a muffed round of 74. It looks like 10th place will remain Straka's best Olympic result from his first appearance three years ago in Tokyo. "I'm too far away for a medal this time, but a top 10 finish is still possible. I will play extremely aggressively on Sunday, attacking the flag directly on every hole," said the ÖGV ace.

Straka put in a strong performance on Saturday for the time being, staying one shot under the course handicap on 2, 4 and 7. The first setback came with a bogey on hole 9 of all holes, where he had made a birdie on Friday. The birdie that followed was a strong reaction, but further bogeys on the 13th, 15th and 17th prevented a clear advance in the rankings. The Ryder Cup winner had previously managed a fifth birdie on the 16th.

 "Yesterday is all the more annoying because ..."
"Today's round was okay, but after yesterday's 74 it still wasn't good enough. Yesterday is all the more annoying because I played under par today, even though I missed the fairway several times on the par-5 holes. Unfortunately, you can't play at the top like that," Straka summed up. At two under par, the world number 26 is twelve shots behind the two leaders Jon Rahm (ESP) and Xander Schauffele (USA). Britain's Tommy Fleetwood is currently one shot behind them on course for bronze.