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Sports may be rooted in a sense of conflict, winners and losers, but it has the power to unite the world. Anytime the Olympics - summer or winter - rolls around, it's a refreshing reminder of that fact. The Summer and Winter Games end up feeling more celebratory than anything because they gather together athletes from all corners of the world and all sorts of backgrounds, united by dozens of athletic pursuits.
Golf falls right in line with other great Olympic sports, even though it has only renewed its participation in the Games in the last decade. Despite the America-centric nature of the PGA Tour and the major championships, it is a world sport, with great players from all continents.
Golf will participate in its third Olympic Games since a more than century long hiatus. The men will compete outside Paris Aug. 1-4 with the women following Aug. 7-10. It should be a compelling nine-day run.
Golf at the 2024 Olympic Games
When: The men will tee it up August 1-4, with the women following August 7-10.
Where: Le Golf National's Albatros Course.
Course stats: Men's: 7,174 yards; par 71. Women's: 6,374 yards; par 72.
Men's field: United States: Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa. Argentina: Emiliano Grillo, Alejandro Tosti. Australia: Jason Day, Min Woo Lee. Austria: Sepp Straka. Belgium: Thomas Detry, Adrien Dumont de Chassart. Canada: Corey Conners, Nick Taylor. Chile: Joaquin Niemann, Mito Pereira. China: Zecheng Dou, Carl Yuan. Chinese Taipei: Kevin Yu, C.T. Pan. Colombia: Camilo Villegas, Nico Echavarria. Denmark: Nicolai Hojgaard, Thorbjorn Olesen. Finland: Sami Valimaki, Tapio Pulkkanen. France: Matthieu Pavon, Victor Perez. Germany: Stephan Jaeger, Matti Schmid. Great Britain: Tommy Fleetwood, Matthew Fitzpatrick. India: Shubhankar Sharma, Gaganjeet Bhullar. Ireland: Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry. Italy: Matteo Manassero, Guido Migliozzi. Japan: Hideki Matsuyama, Keita Nakajima. Malaysia: Gavin Green. Mexico: Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz. New Zealand: Ryan Fox, Daniel Hillier. Norway: Viktor Hovland, Kris Ventura. Paraguay: Fabrizio Zanotti. Poland: Adrian Meronk. Puerto Rico: Rafael Campos. Republic of Korea: Tom Kim, Byeong Hun An. South Africa: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Erik van Rooyen. Spain: Jon Rahm, David Puig. Sweden: Ludvig Aberg, Alex Noren. Switzerland: Joel Girrbach. Thailand: Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Phachara Khongwatmai.
Women's Field: United States: Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu, Rose Zhang. Australia: Hannah Green, Minjee Lee. Austria: Emma Spitz, Sarah Schober. Belgium: Manon De Roey. Canada: Brooke Henderson, Alena Sharp. China: Ruoning Yin, Xiyu Lin. Chinese Taipei: Peiyun Chien, Wei-Ling Hsu. Colombia: Mariajo Uribe. Czech Republic: Klara Davidson Spilkova, Sara Kouskova. Denmark: Emily Kristine Pedersen, Nanna Koerstz Madsen. Finland: Ursula Wikstrom, Noora Komulainen. France: Celine Boutier, Perrine Delacour. Germany: Esther Henseleit, Alexandra Forsterling. Great Britian: Charlie Hull, Georgia Hall. India: Aditi Ashok, Diksha Dagar. Ireland: Leona Maguire, Stephanie Meadow. Italy: Alessandra Fanali. Japan: Yuka Saso, Miyu Yamashita. Malaysia: Ashley Lau. Mexico: Gaby Lopez, Maria Fassi. Morocco: Ines Laklalech. Netherlands: Anne Van Dam. New Zealand: Lydia Ko. Norway: Celine Borge, Madelene Stavnar. Philippines: Bianca Pagdanganan, Dottie Ardina. Republic of Korea: Jin Young Ko, Amy Yang, Hyo-Joo Kim. Singapore: Shannon Tan. Slovenia: Pia Babnik, Ana Belac. South Africa: Ashleigh Buhai, Paula Reto. Spain: Carlota Ciganda, Azahara Munoz. Sweden: Maja Stark, Linn Grant. Switzerland: Albane Valenzuela, Morgane Metraux. Thailand: Atthaya Thitikul, Patty Tavatanakit.
Personally, I've never understood the arguments against golf's inclusion in the Olympics. It's one of the great sports, and an increasingly global one at that. It may complicate the worldwide professional golf schedule every four years, but it's ultimately a minor inconvenience at best for the world's greatest golfers.
The rise of Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf has thrown wrinkles into the 2024 qualification process and it is unfortunate that 2024 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau didn't gather enough points to make the team. Here's hoping that by 2028, there will be more harmony in professional golf.
My main quibble with golf in the Olympics is with the format. Stroke-play golf over 72 holes is fine, and it's familiar to golf fans, but match play would be more interesting, and likely easier to appreciate for the millions of worldwide fans who tune into various Olympic competitions without intimate knowledge of the sport being played. A 36-hole stroke-play competition to narrow the field from 60 to 16 players, followed by single-elimination match play would be more engaging than the same-old-same-old of four days of stroke play. It would also guarantee not one but two hard-fought matches on the final day, as the losers of the semifinal matches would face off for a bronze medal.
A two-person team competition is being considered for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The event could feature up to 16 teams playing one round of foursomes (alternate shot) and one round of four-ball (best ball). The teams would be selected from the 60 men and 60 women already qualified for individual play based on the Olympic Golf Ranking. The mixed team event would be held on the Sunday and Monday between the men’s and women’s 72-hole individual tournaments. The proposal has been formally submitted by the International Golf Federation and is now awaiting a decision by the IOC, likely in early 2025.
Golf in the Olympic Games: Early years
In its initial chapter, golf was only part of two Olympic Games: the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris and the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis. In 1900, it was one of 19 sports and 21 overall disciplines contested, with competitions for men and women held at the Compiegne Club, which had been built in 1896 and was one of only 25 courses in France at the time. The nine-hole course no longer exists.
The 1900 men's Olympic golf competition was contested by amateur players over 36 holes, with American Charles Sands winning the gold medal by a stroke over Walter Rutherford of Scotland. Sands also competed in 1900's singles and doubles tennis competitions in the Olympics.
The women's Olympic golf competition in 1900 was notable for multiple reasons. It was only a 9-hole competition, won by Chicago's Margaret Abbott, who shot a score of 47. It was the first competition in Olympics history in which women were allowed to compete, and to this day it has the distinction of being the only single Olympic event in which a mother and daughter competed at the same time; Abbott's mother Mary also competed, shooting a score of 65. Oddly, Abbott did not know the tournament in which she was playing and which she had won was part of the Olympics. Only years after her death did a researcher unearth the fact and inform her children of their mother's historic victory.
Despite the barrier-breaking nature of women's golf in 1900, the 1904 Olympic Games featured only men's competitions: an individual and a team event, both contested at match play. In the individual event, Canada's George Lyon defeated Chandler Egan at the Saint Louis Country Club. Lyon was one of three Canadians to participate in the event; the remaining 74 players were all American. Naturally, American squads of ten players each swept the team portion of the competition. Egan, the silver medalist, won the 1904 and 1905 U.S. Amateur and would be a successful and influential 20th-century golf course architect. Pebble Beach Golf Links is one of more than 20 courses in which he was involved.
Plans for the 1908 Olympics in London had initially included golf, but a dispute between the Royal and Ancient and the Olympic organizing committee led to a boycott by all home-country players and the tournament's subsequent cancellation, and it fell out of future competitions.
Golf's return to the Olympic Games
In 2009, the 21st IOC Session elected to reintroduce golf to the Olympic Games in the future in large part thanks to lobbying efforts by former R&A chair Peter Dawson and Ty Votaw, who was the LPGA Tour commissioner from 2001 to 2006 and then served as the executive vice president of international affairs for the PGA Tour.
After a 112-year hiatus, golf made its return to the Olympics at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The 72-hole stroke-play competiions on both the men's and women's sides were held at a golf course purpose-built for the event, designed by architect Gil Hanse and World Golf Hall of Fame member Amy Alcott.
Although several top players declined to participate, citing concerns over the Zika virus that had spread through parts of Brazil, 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose shot a four-day total of 16-under par and brought home a gold medal for Great Britain, beating Sweden's Henrik Stenson by two shots. America's Matt Kuchar shot a final-round 63 to take the bronze medal.
The following week, in the women's competition, South Korea's In-Bee Park added to her Hall-of-Fame career exploits, claiming the gold medal with her own score of 16-under par, good for a five-shot cushion over New Zealand's Lydia Ko. Shanshan Feng of China finished a further shot behind.
With the 2020 Olympics held in 2021 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, golfers descended on Kasumigaseki Golf Club's East Course for another round of 72-hole competitions on the men's and women's sides. This time, the United States swept the gold medals; Xander Schauffele shot 18-under and held off a charging Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia) by a single shot and C.T. Pan (Chinese Taipei) by three, while Nelly Korda won the women's competition by a shot over Mone Inami (Japan) and Lydia Ko (New Zealand), shooting 17-under par.
In the two-part history of golf in the Olympics, the United States has a commanding lead in the medal count with 13 - five golds, three silvers and five bronze medals. Great Britain sits in second place with three medals - one gold, one silver and one bronze.
2024 Olympic golf competition: a preview
The 2024 Olympic golf competition will take place at Le Golf National's Albatros course outside of Paris and will once again comprise 72-hole stroke-play competitions with fields of 60 players each on both the men's and women's sides. The men's competition will begin on Thursday, August 1 and will conclude on Sunday, August 4. The women's competition will begin on Wednesday, August 7 and conclude on Saturday, August 10. Each round is scheduled to be streamed live on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com from 3 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET on each competition day.
"It will be very special going over there and competing with the other three guys and hopefully we'll be able to bring home some medals for the USA," World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said. "Be a nice little thing to be able to trash talk to my buddies about when they say golfers aren't athletes. I can claim I'm an Olympian."
In July 2024, the International Golf Federation made an official announcement awarding the 2028 Olympic golf competitions to The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., as part of the Summer Games scheduled to take place in Los Angeles.
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