OLYMPICS GOLF
Why does Team USA have four players in men’s golf at the 2024 Olympics in Paris?
The field for the men’s golf at the Olympics in Paris is set. Every country apart form the U.S. has a maximum of two golfers.
The United States will send four golfers to the Paris Olympics, which gets underway on August 1 on L’Albatros course at Le Golf National.
Those four are: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, and Collin Morikawa.
But why is the U.S. sending four players while all the other countries are sending two at most.
How qualifying works for golf at the Olympics
The reason the U.S. are sending four golfers is because it has lots and lots of good golfers, basically.
In total the field for the golf at the Olympics is a total of 60 players (for both men’s and women’s golf).
The rules for Olympic qualifying are that countries are only allowed to send two golfers UNLESS they have more than two golfers ranked in the top fifteen golfers in the world, in which case they can have up to four, provided they are in that top fifteen.
The U.S. has an incredible nine players in the top 15 right now, meaning just the top four have booked their ticket to France.
What rankings are used to decide qualifying for the Olympics?
The rankings used for qualifying for the Games in Paris are the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR).
The date for the men’s ranking was after the U.S. Open, won by Bryson Dechambeau.
The rankings look at performances over a two year rolling period, with players being given a ranking by dividing their points earned by the number of events played. Recent events are given more weight in the rankings.
Notably, Bryson Dechambeau will not be going to the Olympics. He stands 10th in the OWGR rankings. He would likely be far higher, but he plays in the LIV tour, and LIV tour events do not qualify for ranking points. That means he pretty much only picks up ranking points at the Majors.
Final word on participation lies with the U.S. Olympic Committee
Note that while the rules on participation are based on the OWGR, the final decision on who represents a country at the Olympics is made by that country’s Olympic Committee. However, there is no expectation the U.S. will send anyone other than Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, and Collin Morikawa.
Full list of qualifiers for Men’s Golf at Paris Olympics
Here’s the full expected list of men’s golfers for the Olympics
1. Scottie Scheffler — United States of America
2. Rory McIlroy — Ireland
3. Xander Schauffele — United States of America
4. Ludvig Åberg — Sweden
5. Wyndham Clark — United States of America
6. Viktor Hovland — Norway
7. Collin Morikawa — United States of America
8. Jon Rahm — Spain
9. Hideki Matsuyama — Japan
10. Tommy Fleetwood — Great Britain
11. Matthew Fitzpatrick — Great Britain
12. Matthieu Pavon — France
13. Sepp Straka — Austria
14. Jason Day — Australia
15. Tom Kim — Korea
16. Byeong Hun An — Korea
17. Shane Lowry — Ireland
18. Nick Taylor — Canada
19. Min Woo Lee — Australia
20. Corey Conners — Canada
21. Christiaan Bezuidenhout — South Africa
22. Stephan Jaeger — Germany
23. Nicolai Højgaard — Denmark
24. Thomas Detry — Belgium
25. Emiliano Grillo — Argentina
26. Alex Noren — Sweden
27. Ryan Fox — New Zealand
28. Erik van Rooyen — South Africa
29. Adrian Meronk — Poland
30. Victor Perez — France
31. Keita Nakajima — Japan
32. Thorbjørn Olesen — Denmark
33. Alejandro Tosti — Argentina
34. Joaquin Niemann — Chile
35. Sami Valimaki — Finland
36. Kevin Yu — Chinese Taipei
37. David Puig — Spain
38. Matti Schmid — Germany
39. C.T. Pan — Chinese Taipei
40. Joost Luiten — Netherlands
41. Carl Yuan — China
42. Camilo Villegas — Colombia
43. Matteo Manassero — Italy
44. Adrien Dumont de Chassart — Belgium
45. Daniel Hillier — New Zealand
46. Cristobal Del Solar — Chile
47. Guido Migliozzi — Italy
48. Shubhankar Sharma — India
49. Rafael Campos — Puerto Rico
50. Darius Van Driel — Netherlands
51. Carlos Ortiz — Mexico
52. Kiradech Aphibarnrat — Thailand
53. Gavin Green — Malaysia
54. Gaganjeet Bhullar — India
55. Nico Echavarria — Colombia
56. Kris Ventura — Norway
57. Phachara Khongwatmai — Thailand
58. Abraham Ancer — Mexico
59. Zecheng Dou — China
60. Fabrizio Zanotti — Paraguay