Two weeks, two competitions
From Scottie Scheffler to Charley Hull, golf fans will see leading figures from the game compete over two weeks of competition for gold, silver and bronze medals.
The men’s Olympic golf competition will take place 1-4 August, while the women will compete 7-10 August.
With 32 countries represented in the men’s Olympic golf competition and 33 in the women’s field, the composition of the fields presents an opportunity for the sport to further amplify its global reach across all six different continents.
Each competition will be played over 72-hole stroke-play tournaments, familiar to sports fans on a week-to-week basis. The player shooting the lowest cumulative score will win the gold medal, with second place earning silver and third earning bronze. In the event of ties for any of the places, there will be a play-off.
For all rounds, the intention is to play in groups of three athletes. For rounds three and four, groupings will be done according to cumulative score at the end of the previous round, with the leaders (lowest cumulative scores) teeing off last.
The men’s competition will be contested as a par 71 (7,174 yards), while the women’s competition will be contested as a par 72 (6,374 yards).
The elite of the game on show
As of Monday, July 29, eight of the top 10 on the Official World Golf Ranking are teeing it up in France, with 13 of the top 15 on the women’s side.
On the men’s side, world Number One Scheffler leads a stellar four-strong U.S. contingent that also features defending Olympic gold medallist Xander Schauffele, along with fellow major champions Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark.
Xander Schauffele finished on -18 to win gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games
Among the other high-profile players are Rory McIlroy, who is teaming up with Shane Lowry for Ireland, and Tommy Fleetwood joining Matt Fitzpatrick in Team Great Britain, while home hopes rest on the shoulders of Frenchmen Matthieu Pavon and Victor Perez.
edit **the Canadian Team is Corey Conners and Nick Taylor
Ludvig Åberg can look forward to adding an Olympics to his ever-growing resume as he sports the colours of Sweden alongside Alex Noren, while global stars Jason Day and Min Woo Lee wear the green and gold of Australia.
Other household names competing in the men’s competition include Viktor Hovland of Norway, Jon Rahm of Spain and Hideki Matsuyama of Japan.
On the women’s side, America again boasts the world No. 1 and defending gold medallist in Nelly Korda, who is joined by Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang.
Much is expected of Swedish pair Maja Stark and Linn Grant as is Australia duo Hannah Green and Minjee Lee, while Great Britain’s Hull and Georgia Hall are experienced players on the game’s biggest stages.
French hopes are led by Celine Boutier in the women’s competition, while Brooke Henderson of Canada is paired with Alena Sharp Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit and Lydia Ko of New Zealand are established global figures.
One of European golf’s most recognised layouts
Host venue over the next two weeks, Le Golf National, needs little introduction.
Opened on 5 October 1990, the course was designed by Hubert Chesneau and Robert Von Hagge and renovated in 2016 by European Golf Design (EGD) under Chesneau’s supervision in preparation for the 2018 Ryder Cup.
Since 1991, it has served as the scene of the FedEx Open de France, France’s national Open, for almost 30 editions.
But it came to wider prominence in 2018 when it staged the Ryder Cup, golf’s greatest team competition.
With water hazards on 10 of the holes, strategy and precision is required to score well on what is regarded as one of the toughest assignments players face on the DP World Tour.
New to the best in the women’s game, the Albatros course was built to be a natural amphitheatre and possesses a fearsome finish with water in play on three of the final four holes.
Drama is unlikely to be in short supply, and with sell-out, 30,000-strong crowds expected each competition day, the battle for gold will generate intrigue and passion in equal measure.
Golf at the Olympics
Having featured in 1900 and 1904, golf is being contested at the Olympics for the third consecutive time at the Paris Games.
After a 112-year absence, it returned at Rio in 2016 when Justin Rose made the first hole-in-one in Olympic history in the opening round on his way to victory, overcoming Sweden’s Henrik Stenson to take gold for Great Britain. In the women’s competition, Inbee Park celebrated success as a final-round 66 helped the South Korean to a five-shot victory.
Five years later, in Tokyo, it was American pair of Schauffele and Korda who tasted the sweet success of Olympic victory as both claimed one-shot victories at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
Behind Schauffele in the medal-winning positions were Rory Sabatini as a closing Olympic record 63 helped him win silver, while C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei emerged from a seven-man play-off that featured McIlroy and Morikawa to claim bronze.
Joining Korda on the medal podium were Japan’s Mone Inami and New Zealand’s Ko, after the former triumphed in a play-off between the pair.
Big rewards for the champions
There is nothing quite like the emotion that competing for your country evokes. In professional golf, it is an experience that is few and far between.
That honour is only made even greater for the lucky few who claim a coveted Olympic medal.
For those who win gold, there are perks that come with it. Those teeing it up in the men's Olympic field will be competing for spots in all four Majors for 2025, while the women’s Olympic golf winner will earn their place into the next five Majors.
The men’s champion will also earn exemption into next year’s PLAYERS Championship and potentially The Sentry, a Signature event at Kapalua, provided he is a member of the PGA TOUR at the time of his victory.
The women's gold medal winner will pick up one LPGA Hall of Fame point, with Major winners picking up two by comparison. You need 27 points to enter the Hall of Fame, a select club which includes International Golf Federation President and ten-time Major winner Annika Sorenstam.
Oh, and there’s also valuable world ranking points on the line at both competitions.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
