Golf in the Summer Olympics might not quite rise to the level of importance of the major championships for either men or women professionals. After all, golf is still a relatively new sport in the Summer Games, and for many professional golfers, it simply adds complications to their schedules.
But for fans of the Olympics, or just fans of some of the top players in the world gathering for competition, Olympic golf is back. The men will play first in the Summer Games in Paris next week, with the women’s event the following week. Fans in Southern California can already look forward to the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, when golf will be played at historic Riviera Country Club.
But since the Olympics aren’t an event on an organized tour, and because the Summer Games come around once every four years, many golf fans might not know what to expect the next two week. So here are a few things you need to know about golf in the Olympics:
The field
The Olympics have 60 golfers in the field, both for men and women. The players are determined by the Official World Golf Rankings for men and the Rolex World Rankings for women. No country can have more than four golfers in the field in order to make the 60-player field more representative of the world. So the top four Americans in the rankings when the field was closed – Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark – will play for the gold medal. This makes for a field that is not the strongest possible field – for instance U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau and world No. 8 Patrick Cantlay are not in the field – but one that allows the most countries to be represented. American women playing next week will be Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang.
The competition
A sticking point for some critics is that the format for Olympic golf is straightforward 72 holes of stroke play with no cut. That tends to make the Olympics look like many other tournaments you might see week to week on any number of tours around the world. The top three players after 72 holes will receive the gold, silver and bronze medals. The men’s event begins Thursday, Aug. 1 and the women’s event begins Aug. 8. There is already talk of a mixed team format being added for 2028.
The course
Le Golf National is certainly no stranger to the best players in the world. It is the annual site of the French Open on the DP World Tour, a task it was specifically designed for in 1991. In addition, it was the host of the 2018 Ryder Cup between the United States and Europe. It can measure up to 7,331 yards with a par of 72.
LIV golfers in the field
Since the Olympics uses the world ranking to determine its field, and LIV golfers can be ranked, then it makes sense that some LIV players will be in the Olympics. After all, this isn’t a PGA Tour or DP World Tour event, but an event put together by the International Golf Federation. In all, seven LIV golfers will be in the field, though that won’t include some big names like DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, who were eliminated by the rankings and the four-play rule for countries.
Past champions
When the Olympics included golf once again in 2016 in Brazil, the winner was Justin Rose of England, with Henrik Stenson of Sweden taking the silver and Matt Kuchar of the United States taking the bronze. Perhaps it says something that eight years later, none of the medalists in Rio de Janeiro are in the field in Paris. Men’s medalists in Japan in 2020 (actually held in 2021 because of the pandemic) were Xander Schauffele with the gold, Rory Sabbatini, who represented Slovakia, with the silver and C.T. Pan of Taiwan winning a playoff for the bronze. Schaffuele and Pan are back in the field in Paris.
In women’s golf, Inbee Park of South Korea, Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Shanshan Feng of China won gold, silver and bronze in Brazil, with only Ko back in the field this year. In 2020, Korda won the gold, Mone Iname of Japan took silver and Ko became the first two-time medal winner in the return of the sport to the Olympics with a bronze medal.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Summer Olympics: Golfers Xander Schauffele, Nelly Korda lead Team USA
