Kawagoe, Japan: Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama is hot on the heels of American Xander Schauffele entering Sunday’s final round of the men’s Olympic golf tournament.

Schauffele carded a three-under-par 68 for a three-day aggregate of 199 at Kasumigaseki Country Club, one in front of Matsuyama, who made history in April when he became the first Asian winner of the Masters Tournament.

Matsuyama, who would have drawn massive crowds in this golf-crazed country had fans been allowed on site, overcame an opening bogey to shoot 67 and is alone at 13-under.

A two-time winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, Matsuyama is carrying the weight of his nation into the final round, a feat of strength he couldn’t have imagined after contracting Covid-19, the same culprit that is robbing him of those onsite fans.

He said: “I definitely could not have believed it. To be honest, the endurance part of my game has been struggling a little bit, but thankfully it’s held up the last few days. Hopefully it’s going to hold up tomorrow as well.”

He has played in final pairings before, but this will be a totally new experience for him.

“This is my first time playing the Olympics, so I’m not sure what to experience,” Matsuyama said. “But I’m sure it’s going to be a new great experience. I’m not sure what kind of preparation I’ll be able to put in before tomorrow’s round, but I’m going to do my best.

“I played with Xander in the third and fourth day together at the Masters. I’m sure Xander will come out determined to win the gold medal tomorrow. Hopefully I’m going to come out strong on the mental side, too.”

Schauffele’s third-day effort was particularly impressive given the struggles he endured off the tee. He didn’t hit his first fairway until the eighth hole but still had enough in his arsenal to get through, including a brilliant nine-iron (from the fairway) on 18 that led to a birdie-three and a return to his solo lead.

Schauffele said: “I could have had a bad attitude, but hung tough and fell back on certain parts of my game to hold me tight. Your putter doesn’t know how bad you’re swinging it. It’s a completely different part of the game. I made that joke to my caddie on nine, saying: ‘If I can roll this in, it’s ugly, but we’re getting it done right now’. I would like tomorrow to be a little bit more fun all around.

“Golf is funny, you have to fall back on parts of your game when other parts aren’t working. Yesterday I wouldn’t say I was firing on all cylinders but things were clicking kind of coming home. It was a different day today. I’m going to try and get some better feeling on the range going into tomorrow.”

Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz shot 69 that included a closing bogey and enters Sunday in joint third place, tied with Paul Casey of Great Britain (66), two strokes behind. Four others are another stroke back, including Rory McIlroy of Ireland (67), Sebastián Muñoz of Colombia (66), Mito Pereira of Chile (68) and first-round leader Sepp Straka of Austria (68).