Catriona Matthew recovers from poor start at Reserva de Marapendi

17 August 2016 02:24

Catriona Matthew battled back from a poor start to boost Britain's hopes of marking golf's return to the Olympics with a golden double.

After Justin Rose won the first gold medal for 112 years in the men's competition on Sunday, Matthew and team-mate Charley Hull were attempting to win only the second women's gold ever at Reserva de Marapendi.

Matthew's bid to emulate American Margaret Abbott, who thought she was entering the Ladies' Championship of Paris when she won a nine-hole event in 1900, did not start well with a double bogey on the third.

But the 46-year-old Scot, the oldest player in the 60-strong field in Rio, bounced back with a birdie from 12 feet on the sixth and another from close range on the ninth to reach the turn in level par.

Another birdie on the 11th took Matthew into red figures and within three shots of the lead shared by Denmark's Nicole Broch Larsen and Chinese Taipei's Candy Kung, with Spain's Azahara Munoz a shot behind.

Hull was in the final group out at 11:09am local time (3:09pm BST) alongside Solheim Cup team-mate Anna Nordqvist and world number one Lydia Ko, with nine of the world's top 10 in a strong field.

Source: PA