Day 3 Wrap 2016 Olympic Men's Golf: Following A Dream Script

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Without some notable young stars, Olympic men's golf was in danger of not producing a strong leaderboard.

With a limited field, brought up in the rear by players outside the top 150 in the world, a runaway was always a possible.

With a golf course that only eight people had played one time, grown in by a crew that knew nothing about golf a year ago and in a city whose inhabitants didn't want or need a course, the venue could have interfered with the proceedings in unforeseen anyway.

Oh, and we're in Rio, where we're not supposed to flush toilet paper.

Yet in spite of all those obstacles, the first draft turned in by the script doctors is a doozy.

As I lay out for GolfDigest.com, God Save The Queen should be played around 4:30 as Justin Rose tries to stiff upper lip it and mercifully fails. But the best golfer on the planet right now figures to have a say in the matter, while a zany cast of character actors and old stars make cameos.

A breeze will be present but not like days one and three. Oh and everyone show up a half-hour earlier. The telecast window is adjusted accordingly, and NBC is also planning on carrying the conclusion live on the network.

The final round groupings and tee times.

We are in for a grand finish Sunday in the 2016 Olympic Golf men's competition between two combatants who have played together in Ryder Cup competition put on a grand show Saturday, writes PA's Phil Casey.

Alistair Tait at Golfweek.com calls it a dream duel.

In early voting I see most of you think Stenson will prevail.

Bob Harig on Justin Rose's best round of the year Saturday, and why the Englishman hasn't been his usual self after what looked was going to be a huge year. 

"I think the only thing that's held me back really from winning this year has been injury. It's been a little bit of a slow year for me,'' Rose said. "I haven't been able to be up to my normal speed in terms of practice. Probably since Doral (in March), I've been struggling, to be honest with you. It's nice to be through that.

Mike McCallister notes that Rose merely has the pole position with his one stroke lead, and adds other notes from the day.

Alan Shipnuck at golf.com seizes on Rose's lesson learned from attending gymnastics this week.

This increased focus has an unlikely origin: women’s gymnastics. Rose, whose wife Kate is a former gymnast, attended a meet earlier in the week and was blown away by the commotion on the floor, with so many disciplines happening simultaneously. "They have literally their body on the line if something goes wrong yet the level of distraction around them is incredible," Rose said. "It kind of made me realize that I could do a better job of sort of tunneling in and forgetting some of the distractions that can be out there on the golf course. That's one that I tried to use this week."

Bubba Watson cost himself a shot with a drop-kick putt that he believes will make him a legend. Particularly if he loses out on a medal by one, as I note at GolfDigest.com

You can see the putt here at Golfweek.com 

Sergio took himself out of medal contention barring a miracle, but still is having fun.

 On the ratings front, golf made NBC's Thursday Olympic ratings release.

Golf Channel averaged 386,000 viewers for its live coverage of the full first-round (6:30 a.m.-3:13 p.m. ET) of the first day of Olympic golf since 1904 – a 543% increase from the same time period during the 2012 London Games. In addition, the network averaged 515,000 viewers for the afternoon window (noon-3:13 p.m. ET), up 287% from 2012.  

No greed goes unpunished files: the Olympic rating wasn't enough to boost John Deere Classic ratings, which drew fall-style numbers according to Sports TV Ratings. I still can't believe the tour scheduled an event this week. Sure hope John Deere gets a makeup date.

The Olympics also impacted the U.S. Senior Open Thursday, which drew an average of 53,000 viewers over five hours.

The course setup on Saturday was pretty difficult, with quite possibly the worst looking and playing hole location I've seen on a major stage. Particularly given the size and quality of the 17th green complex created by Gil Hanse and friends.

Other head scratchers on the course setup defied the forecasted wind direction and gave the appearance of having been decided days ago: trying to make the par-4 3rd driveable into the wind, a back left pin on the long par-3 14th when the wind was coming out of the left, and the par-3 17th's goofy looking location. 

Thankfully the forecast does not call for strong winds. Hopefully they've been saving the best setup for last.