Fleetwood on familiar turf and shares lead as Olympic chase for gold takes shape

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — British golfer Tommy Fleetwood is on familiar turf and chasing another gold trophy at Le Golf National, this one an Olympic medal instead of that 17-inch Ryder Cup trophy.

The medal chase in men's golf began to take shape Friday with Fleetwood sharing the 36-hole lead with defending Olympic champion Xander Schauffele and Hideki Matsuyama, giving another sellout crowd plenty of star power at the top.

Schauffele was slowed by ants in the rough and posted a 5-under 66, tying the 36-hole Olympic record he set at the Tokyo Games. He was joined by a pair of sloppy finishes. Fleetwood took bogey from a fairway bunker for a 64, while Matsuyama went from rough to water for a double bogey on the 18th and a 68.

They were at 11-under 131, two ahead of Jon Rahm (66).

Schauffele appears to be on auto-pilot at times, not missing a step from winning the British Open for his second major of the year.

Fleetwood, however, has the experience on this track. He won the French Open at Le Golf National in 2017 and then starred in Europe's Ryder Cup victory a year later, going 4-1 in his matches.

“You're always better off coming to a course where you have good feelings and good things have happened. So I'll definitely draw on those," he said. "But again, I have to stand up there tomorrow and hit the golf shots. Nothing that's happened in the past is going to do it for me.

“It's better having good feelings that having a course that's battered you to pieces.”

Schauffele had three straight birdies around the turn and was making it look easy until one bad drive on the 13th and one weird lie. The ball was buried so deep a marshal stuck his finger in the tall grass to show him where it was. Schauffele noticed something else — ants.

He was trying to position his club when he noticed something behind his golf ball.

“It was a pile of ants, an ant pile, whatever you want to call it,” he said.

There is free relief from a dangerous animal — fire ants are cited in the rules — but these weren't the dangerous variety. One official said Schauffele could scrape it away with his club, only Schauffele wasn't sure about that. A second official said he could use his tee to scrape away the pile. All that for a shot that he could only hack out some 50 yards, leading to a bogey.

That was the extent of his drama for the day.

“Five under is a good score on this property,” he said. “Overall, sitting in a good spot coming into the weekend.”

Scottie Scheffler, the world's No. 1 player, is at least in range and plenty happy about that. He took a double bogey on the seventh hole from grass so thick he could only advance the shot about 10 feet, and the next one only about 80 yards. He was 2 over for the day and losing ground quickly.

“Panic is definitely not the right word,” Scheffler said. “But when you look up at the leaderboard, I think at the time I was maybe nine shots back or something like that. Around a golf course like this, where the scores are going to continue to get lower, it could be tough to catch up. I needed to do something to get back in the tournament.”

He shot 31 on the back nine for 69 and was five shots behind. The greens have been so perplexing to Scheffler that after misreading a 6-foot birdie chance on the ninth hole, he had caddie Ted Scott read them the rest of the way and he trusted it.

“The way I was feeling, I wasn’t really going to disagree with what he was saying,” he said.

Thomas Detry of Belgium had the low round at 63 that got him within three shots of the lead, along with 22-year-old Tom Kim of South Korea (68) and C.T. Pan of Taiwan (65), the bronze medalist from the Tokyo Games.

Rahm played alongside Schauffele and at one point found himself five shots back. But the big Spaniard ran off three straight birdies in the middle of the back nine, including a tee shot to 3 feet on the par-3 16th, and saved par on the final hole.

It's his first time contending on a big stage this year. Rahm tied for seventh in the British Open for his best result in a major, though he was never really in the mix. Now he is, and he got a good look at what he faces in Schauffele riding a wave of momentum.

“What Xander has done this year weighs much more than the medal from three years ago,” Rahm said. He added with a laugh, "And I didn't tell him because I don't want to remind him of all the good things he has achieved.”

Rory McIlroy was six shots behind, a big push late halted by a double bogey from deep rough on the 17th hole.

“A few too many mistakes, similar story to yesterday," he said.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Crowds gather in the sunshine round the 18th green as they watch play during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Scottie Scheffler, of the United States, walks to the 18th green during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Joaquin Niemann, of Chile, plays his tee shot watched by the crowd on the 3rd tee during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Hideki Matsuyama, of Japan, plays from the 3rd fairway during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Rory McIlroy, of Ireland, looks at his putt on the 3rd green during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Scottie Scheffler, of the United States, walks over the bridge to the 15th green during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Jon Rahm, of Spain, acknowledges the crowd after completing his round on the 18th green during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Hideki Matsuyama, of Japan, chips onto the 7th green during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Hideki Matsuyama, of Japan, acknowledges the crowd after making a birdie on the 17th green during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Xander Schauffele, of the United States, waits to putt on the 13th green during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Xander Schauffele, of the United States, reacts after putting on the 18th green during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Tommy Fleetwood, of Britain, chips out of a bunker to the 11th green during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Tommy Fleetwood, of Britain, reacts after playing his tee shot on the 6th during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Tommy Fleetwood, of Great Britain, taps hands with fans as he walks to the 15th tee during the second round of the men's golf event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

LONDON (AP) — Google lost its last bid to overturn a European Union antitrust penalty, after the bloc's top court ruled against it Tuesday in a case that came with a whopping fine and helped jumpstart an era of intensifying scrutiny for Big Tech companies.

The European Union’s top court rejected Google's appeal against the 2.4 billion euro ($2.7 billion) penalty from the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s top antitrust enforcer, for violating antitrust rules with its comparison shopping service.

Also Tuesday, Apple lost its challenge against an order to repay 13 billion euros ($14.34 billion) in back taxes to Ireland, after the European Court of Justice issued a separate decision siding with the commission in a case targeting unlawful state aid for global corporations.

Both companies have now exhausted their appeals in the cases that date to the previous decade. Together, the court decisions are a victory for European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who's expected to step down next month after 10 years as the commission's top official overseeing competition.

Experts said the rulings illustrate how watchdogs have been emboldened in the years since the cases were first opened.

One of the takeaways from the Apple decision "is the sense that, again, the EU authorities and courts are prepared to flex their (collective) muscles to bring Big Tech to heel where necessary,” Alex Haffner, a competition partner at law firm Fladgate, said by email.

The Google ruling “reflects the growing confidence with which competition regulators worldwide are tackling the perceived excesses of the Big Tech companies,” said Gareth Mills, partner at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys. The court's willingness “to back the legal rationale and the level of fine will undoubtedly embolden the competition regulators further.”

The shopping fine was one of three huge antitrust penalties for Google from the commission, which punished the Silicon Valley giant in 2017 for unfairly directing visitors to its own Google Shopping service over competitors.

“We are disappointed with the decision of the Court, which relates to a very specific set of facts,” Google said in a brief statement.

The company said it made changes to comply with the commission’s decision requiring it to treat competitors equally. It started holding auctions for shopping search listings that it would bid for alongside other comparison shopping services.

“Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services,” Google said.

European consumer group BEUC hailed the court's decision, saying it shows how the bloc's competition law “remains highly relevant" in digital markets.

“It is a good outcome for all European consumers at the end of the day,” Director General Agustín Reyna said in an interview. “It means that many smaller companies or rivals will be able to go to different comparison shopping sites. They don’t need to depend on Google to reach out to customers."

Google is still appealing its two other EU antitrust cases: a 2018 fine of 4.125 billion euros ($4.55 billion) involving its Android operating system and a 2019 penalty of 1.49 billion euros ($1.64 billion) over its AdSense advertising platform.

Those three cases foreshadowed expanded efforts by regulators worldwide to crack down on the tech industry. The EU has since opened more investigations into Big Tech companies and drew up a new law to prevent them from cornering online markets, known as the Digital Markets Act.

European Commissioner and Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said that the shopping case was one of the first attempts to regulate a digital company and inspired similar efforts worldwide.

"The case was symbolic because it demonstrated even the most powerful tech companies could be held accountable. No one is above the law,” Vestager told a press briefing in Brussels.

Vestager said the commission will continue to open competition cases even as it enforces the Digital Markets Act. The DMA is a sweeping rulebook that forces Google and other tech giants to give consumers more choice by following a set of dos and don'ts.

Google is also now facing pressure over its lucrative digital advertising business from the EU and Britain, which are carrying out separate investigations, and the United States, where the Department of Justice is taking the company to federal court over its alleged dominance in ad tech.

Apple failed in its last bid to avoid repaying its Irish taxes Tuesday after the Court of Justice upheld a lower court ruling against the company, in the dispute that dates back to 2016.

Vestager, who said she had been braced for defeat, hailed it as a landmark victory for “tax justice.”

It was a surprise win for the commission, which has previously targeted Amazon, Starbucks and Fiat with tax rulings that were later overturned on appeal. They were part of the EU's efforts to stamp out sweetheart deals that let companies pay little to no taxes in a fight that highlighted the debate over whether multinational corporations are paying their fair share around the world.

The case drew outrage from Apple, with CEO Tim Cook calling it “total political crap.” Then-U.S. President Donald Trump slammed Vestager, who spearheaded the campaign to root out special tax deals and crack down on big U.S. tech companies, as the “tax lady” who “really hates the U.S.”

Associated Press writers Raf Casert and Mark Carlson in Brussels contributed to this report.

FILE - In this April 17, 2007 file photo, exhibitors work on laptop computers in front of an illuminated sign of the Google logo at the industrial fair Hannover Messe in Hanover, Germany. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)

FILE - A sign at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. is shown on Oct. 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

Google loses final EU court appeal against 2.4 billion euro fine in antitrust shopping case

Google loses final EU court appeal against 2.4 billion euro fine in antitrust shopping case