Why does Team USA have four players in men’s golf at the 2024 Olympics in Paris?

The United States has sent four golfers to the Paris Olympics, which started 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