RIO DE JANEIRO – Just two months ago, Graham DeLaet withdrew from the Memorial citing “incredible anxiety while chipping/pitching.”
Now he’s in the hunt at the Olympics, an event a Canadian won the last time golf was in the Games 112 years ago.
DeLaet took a month off and returned at the Barracuda Championship. He tied for eighth place at the Barbasol Championship, then missed the cut at his beloved Canadian Open a couple weeks ago when he struggled again with his short game.
“I’m still dealing with it a little bit,” he said Thursday after shooting a first-round 5-under 66 at the Olympic Golf Course that consisted of six birdies and a lone bogey.