By Ryan Herrington
Gaby Lopez, one of just two Mexican golfers ever to win on the LPGA Tour, has been thinking about the Tokyo Olympics for some time now.

“That’s my ultimate goal, being able to peak at that week,” Lopez told Golf Channel earlier this year. “That’s what my schedule is going to be played around, being rested, being prepared, in time to play well that week.”

Even if Lopez doesn’t claim a medal when the women’s tournament is contested in two weeks, she’ll have memories of the Tokyo Games that will last a lifetime. On Friday, Lopez, 27, had the honor of carrying her country’s flag during the Opening Ceremony along with diver Rommel Pacheco.

While Japan National Stadium, where the festivities took place, had no spectators for the occasion due to COVID-19 restrictions, the moment was still a big one for Lopez.

“It’s a huge honour to be able to represent my country in women’s golf in Mexico, which isn’t a huge sport,” Lopez said earlier this year. “To just inspire little girls and [for them to] see what a golfer and little girl can do to achieve their dreams, that’s going to be why I play golf and that’s what it means to me and my life and my career.”

This isn’t Lopez first Olympic experience; she competed in the Rio Games in 2016, finishing T-31.

Apparently, Lopez has been considered a likely flagbearer for Mexico for some time now. After her victory at the LPGA’s Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in January 2020, she said she was approached by the president of the Mexican Olympic Committee about the possibility of serving in the role that summer. Of course, the Games were postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lopez wasn’t the only golfer who served as a flag bearer during the Opening Ceremony. Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti, a two-time European Tour, carried his country’s flag along with tennis player Veronica Cepede. Zanotti competed in the Olympics in 2016, finishing T-15 at the Rio Games. In 2016, LPGA Tour pro Julieta Granada carried the flag for Paraguay.

Matthias Hangst
Flag bearers Veronica Cepede and Fabrizio Zanotti (left) of Team Paraguay during the Olympic Opening Ceremony.

The post Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti carry country’s flags during Olympic Opening Ceremony appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Tommy Fleetwood speaks like a starry-eyed fan but plays very much like the man.

Continuing on from where he left off in Abu Dhabi 12 months ago and more recently as the freshly minted Race to Dubai champion, Fleetwood got his defence of the Falcon trophy, and New Year, off to a flyer on Thursday. A bogey and “stress-free” 66 earned the 26-year-old Englishman a share of the first round lead with Japan’s Hideto Tanihara at the 13th Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship – and another scarcely believable scrapbook moment.

Fleetwood might be the reigning European No.1 but in a three-ball featuring the best player on the planet and one of the best golfers of his generation, the Southport lad humbly knows his station, even in the upper echelons of the game. The thing is, he isn’t playing like a lesser golfing mortal as illustrated by his three and six shot eclipsing of playing partners Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson respectively.

“Yeah, I think during my career, I think I’m going to struggle to find a better three ball, really. Doesn’t matter how long I play. That might be the best one I get,” said the fan-like Fleetwood after his man-like opener left him a shot clear of five players on -5: Thomas Pieters, Ross Fisher, Bernd Wieseberger, Sam Brazel and Fabrizio Zanotti.

“I don’t know what I’ll do in my career, nobody knows what the future holds, but I think these two might be going down in the history books. So it will be nice to tell them [maybe infant son Frankie when he’s old enough] that I played these two in a three-ball.

“All you can do is concentrate on your own game…set out to play the best you can.”

Fleetwood’s best on Thursday was mightily impressive. His six-under loop of The National is ominously one better than his start last year and the way he played, and putted in particular, there’s no reason why he couldn’t go on to snare successive Falcons.

There were 18 greens in regulation and some deft putting including a birdie fright on the 3rd (his 12th), a delightful downhill left-to-righter from long range that burnt the cup on the next hole and a masterful two-putt from around 100 feet on the par 3 7th.

“Yeah, it really was [a terrific start],” Fleetwood said. “Had control of my ball really from the get-go. Felt like I did what you need to do well around this golf course, which is drive it well, hit your irons, but you can’t really be too greedy all the time. Then sort of my pace putting was really good. Very stress-free.”

Tanihara also went bogey-free, rattling off four birdies going out before a decisive gain on his lst hole, the 9th, to join Fleetwood.

There are 34 players within three shots of the lead and the major surprise was that Johnson, fresh from his eight shot romp to victory in Hawaii a fortnight ago, wasn’t amongst them.

The world No.1 had four birdies but as many bogeys, including a watery dropped shot on his final hole (the 9th), and struggled around the greens. Still, his 72 matched his opening round 12 months ago when he ended up just a shot shy of Fleetwood. With his power off the tee, the 2016 U.S. Open champion is far from done even after the dusty start.

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