Jason Day and Min Woo Lee are poised to make their Olympic debuts after finishing as the leading two Australians at the end of the men’s golf competition qualification period.

The Australian team to represent their country at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be formally announced on June 29, the women’s qualification period closing at the completion of this weekend’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. However, Hannah Green (the world No.5) and Minjee Lee (No.10) are all but certain of qualifying, as 41st-ranked Gabi Ruffels is the next closest Australian on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking.

An absorbing US Open won by Bryson DeChambeau signalled the end to the three-year qualification period for this Olympic cycle for the men’s game. Day and Lee both qualified for the Australian team by virtue of being among the top 59 players eligible for selection on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Day, who was eligible for the 2016 Olympics at Rio de Janeiro but declined for family reasons, is ranked 24th in the world despite missing the cut at Pinehurst.

It would have required something extraordinary for Lee to be unseated, a tie for 21st solidifying his spot at No.36 in the rankings and an Olympic debut.

Day had not publicly stated his Olympic intentions until after the Masters Tournament in April, declaring that if he qualified he would tee it up at Le Golf National.

“I’m looking forward to it. I think I made a bit of a mistake not going down to Rio, even though part of it was family related,” Day said. “I kind of missed out on that, and I probably should have gone. But if I get the opportunity, I’m looking forward to going.”

Lee has never shied away from his Olympic ambition. His older sister, Minjee, is on the verge of selection in her third straight Olympics, Min Woo’s qualification paving the way for the pair to join a rich history of siblings to have represented Australia at the Olympic Games.

“I would love to represent Australia. It’s one of the goals I’ve had from the last year or so when the talk started happening,” said Lee, who has confirmed his defence of his Australian PGA Championship defence at Royal Queensland in November.

Marcus Fraser and Scott Hend were Australia’s men’s representatives when golf made its Olympic return in 2016 while Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman competed at Tokyo 2020 (which was held in 2021).

Fraser’s tie for fifth in 2016 is Australia’s best result in the men’s golf competition, with Green narrowly missing out on a medal in Tokyo, her tie for fifth Australia’s best result in the women’s competition.

The men’s Olympic golf competition will be staged August 1-4 with the women’s competition to take place from August 7-10.

The post Jason Day and Min Woo Lee officially qualify for Paris Olympics appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

[PHOTO: Getty Images]

Jason Day has made a surprise admission that he made a “mistake” not going to the 2016 Rio Olympics but Australia’s top-ranked male has declared he’ll show up in the green and gold in Paris.

Day was the world No.1 when golf was reintroduced after a 112-year absence to the Olympics in 2016. But the Queenslander was building a family and did not travel to Rio de Janeiro to due fears of the Zika virus.

At the 88th Masters on the final day, Day said he would line up for Australia if eligible for the early August golf event at the games.

“I’ll play. If I’m in, I’ll play for sure, yeah,” Day said at Augusta National after a final-round 69 left him at five over par (293) . “I’m looking forward to it. I think I made a bit of a mistake not going down to Rio, even though part of it was family related. I kind of missed out on that, and I probably should have gone. But if I get the opportunity, I’m looking forward to going.”

Should Day remain eligible – the cut-off is June 17, after this year’s US Open – it would be the 36-year-old’s first Olympics. It could also be his final opportunity to become an Olympian. In 2016, Day withdrew his participation in the Olympics and announced it in a statement. He cited concern for his wife and family as the reason he decided against playing, given the virus is most dangerous to pregnant women, but can be transmitted through sexual contact. The 2016 edition was the first time in a century that golf will be in the Olympics, and Day had pushed for its inclusion. In 2021, Day was not high enough on the world rankings as Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman represented Australia.

Day putting his hand up is pivotal for the Australian team given he is the top-ranked male player at No.21, and he would take Min Woo Lee, who sits 32nd. Adam Scott is 53rd, however he has declared himself out of the games, while Cameron Smith’s LIV Golf move has seen his world ranking drop to 68.

“No, I don’t,” Day said when asked if he had a preference for a teammate. “Whoever is playing the great, that would be great. I think Min Woo is playing good solid golf too. And obviously Smithy, playing in LIV you don’t get world-ranking points. He needs to play well in the major championships, trying to shoot himself up the leaderboard.”

That teammate would likely be Lee, given Scott is struggling for consistent form and Smith’s LIV Golf does not award Official World Golf Ranking points. Lee was not a professional at the time of the 2016 Olympics, while he missed out on qualifying for the team when the 2021 games were held in Tokyo a year late due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Lee would also be joined by his sister, Minjee Lee, the women’s world No.5 and two-time major champion.

“Yeah, it’s unbelievable,” Lee said when asked about joining Day in Paris. “When you’re a professional, you don’t really get to represent Australia. Obviously every tournament, week in and week out, you represent Australia. When I was an amateur, I got to play for Australia a lot of times, so I do miss putting on the green and gold. Obviously Jason is a playing partner and a teammate. That will be really special. My sister is going to be in there, too, so it will be an unbelievable experience. Hopefully it can stay this way and I can play.”

The post Masters 2024: Jason Day makes surprise U-turn on Olympics stance for Paris games appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

[PHOTO: Getty Images]

Adam Scott, Brooks Koepka and Tyrrell Hatton are among a list of notable players who have requested to opt out of the 2024 Olympics, Golf Digest has learned. Spanish outlet ElPeriodiGolf was the first to report the news.

This will be the sport’s third appearance in the Summer Games since the contest was revived in 2016 after a 112-year absence from the Olympics. However, a number of marquee names bowed out of the 2016 Brazil Games due to fears of the Zika virus, and though turnout was improved at the COVID-delayed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (held in 2021), some of the game’s biggest stars still skipped the proceedings. While participation is expected to increase for this year’s contest in Paris, not everyone wants to compete.

Koepka, the reigning PGA champion and five-time major winner, has asked the International Golf Federation to have his name dropped from consideration, according to internal documents at the IGF. Koepka would have faced an uphill battle in qualifying for the United States team; the top four players in the Official World Golf Ranking are automatically selected, and because LIV Golf has not secured OWGR accreditation, Koepka has dropped to 31st in the worldwide ranking. Hatton, who recently defected to LIV Golf, would be in line for an Olympic bid for the English team. However, unless he does well in the major championships, it’s likely his No.16 OWGR standing will drop as the year progresses.

Scott’s withdrawal is not a surprise. The Queenslander has previously stated his apathy towards golf’s inclusion in the Olympics, referring to it as an “exhibition” and that a better idea would be to allow amateurs in the field. He passed on both the 2016 and 2020 games.

Other players that have asked to opt out include LIV Golf’s Louis Oosthuizen and Thomas Pieters. Germany’s Marcel Siem is the only other player that has requested to be dropped from consideration.

Internal documents show that the IGF does not plan on releasing which players have opted out. However, as of writing, no women players have formally requested to opt out.

Qualifying for the 2024 Olympics began in July 2022, with golfers accumulating points in an official Olympics Ranking that essentially mirrors the men’s and women’s world rankings. The first round of the 72-hole men’s Olympic competition gets underway at the Albatros course at Le Golf National (August 1-4), site of the 2018 Ryder Cup. The women’s tournament starts three days after the men’s event ends, August 7-10, before the closing ceremony on August 11. The total fields are 60 players, with at least one spot held for a golfer from the host country (France) if one does not otherwise qualify. No country can have more than four golfers competing, with all golfers ranked in the top 15 qualifying (up to the four golfer maximum for each country). After the top 15 in the ranking, golfers ranked 16th and lower will qualify with no more than two players from any one country eligible to compete.

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[PHOTO: Yoshi Iwamoto]

For those complaining that golf in the Olympics looks exactly like golf almost every other week of the year, you’ll be happy about a new report. You’ll just probably have to wait another four years to see something different.

The Olympics are close to adding a mixed-team event for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, according to the Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson. And it’s a decision that could be announced as soon as the Masters.

Again, though, any new Olympic golf event wouldn’t take place for another four years when Riviera Country Club plays host. The current format, a 72-hole strokeplay tournament for both men and women, is set for the Paris Olympics this year.

According to Ferguson, details regarding the exact format – four-ball, foursomes and possibly singles – and the number of teams are still being worked out. But the rough plan would be to have a four-day men’s tournament, followed by a couple days of a mixed-team event, followed by a four-day women’s tournament so there would still be individual medals in addition to team ones.

As Ferguson notes, this decision is coming on the heels of December’s Grant Thornton Invitational, the PGA Tour’s first mixed-team event since 1999, which was well received by players and fans. Down Under duo Jason Day and Lydia Ko teamed up to win that tournament.

Ko already has a silver and a bronze in two Olympic appearances. However, the reigning men’s and women’s gold medallists both hail from the United States in Xander Schauffele and Nelly Korda.

Schauffele and Korda are on pace to qualify for the Olympics again this year in Paris. Other current golfers who would make it to Paris are Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark and Patrick Cantlay on the men’s side and Lilia Vu, Megan Khang and Allisen Corpuz on the women’s side. For Australia, the likely representatives are Day and Min Woo Lee plus Minjee Lee and Hannah Green.

The qualifying for Olympic golf is based on the Official World Golf Ranking, which puts LIV golfers at a distinct disadvantage.

After more than a century, golf was added back to the Olympics for the 2016 edition. The 2024 golf portion will be played at Le Golf National, site of the 2019 Ryder Cup, beginning on August 1.

The post Olympics close to adding mixed-team golf event for 2028, according to report appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

A historic brother-sister double at this week’s ISPS Handa Australian Open could pave the way for Lee siblings, Minjee and Min Woo, to represent Australia at the 2024 Olympic Games.

On the back of his three-stroke win at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship on Sunday, Min Woo will climb to No.38 in the Official World Golf Ranking. That makes him Australia’s third-highest ranked men’s player behind only Cameron Smith (No.18) and Jason Day (21).

While Smith is desperate to don the green and gold for a second time, Day’s Olympic ambition is less clear. That could open the door for Lee to join Minjee in Paris, big sister a lock given her current Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking of No.5.

Such are Lee’s prospects of an Olympic debut, he and a select group of players will undergo fittings for Olympic uniforms this week in Sydney, bringing a new sense of reality to what just a few years ago was an impossible dream.

“I think we’re going to get a team fitting tomorrow or next week,” said the newest winner of the Joe Kirkwood Cup [pictured above with parents Soonam and Clara].

“You don’t want to get ahead of yourself and get fitted for something that you’re not in, so yeah, there’s a bit of pressure there, and I like pressure.

“I normally tend to play well when I need to make something or I need to do something to get in a tournament, so I’m really excited for that. That would be a true honour, to play for Australia.”

Given that the four Australian golf representatives for Paris won’t be finalised until well into 2024, Lee knows that he needs to extend his current rich vein of form for as long as possible.

He also knows that there is the very real prospect of being upstaged this week by big sister Minjee.

Currently being shadowed by an ABC film crew for a future episode of “Australian Story”, Minjee and Min Woo enter the week as two of the standout favourites for the women’s and men’s Australian Opens to be contested at The Australian Golf Club and The Lakes Golf Club.

Already the first brother-sister pair in golf history to win on major world tours in consecutive weeks, such an accomplishment this week would elevate the Lee siblings into all-time great status well before either turn 30.

The pair have already won the Vic Open two years apart while Minjee has made a habit of stealing back Lee family bragging rights.

When Min Woo won the Scottish Open in 2021, Minjee responded with a breakthrough major victory two weeks later at the Amundi Evian Championship.

And when Min Woo won the SJM Macao Open on October 15, Minjee took just seven days to claim her 10th LPGA Tour win at the BMW Ladies Championship in Korea.

“It’s funny, because every time I win it seems like next week she wins, so if you guys want to put some money on my sister winning next week, you’ll probably win,” Lee joked less than an hour after putting out on the 18th green at Royal Queensland Golf Club on Sunday.

“It’s cool. If I win next week or she doesn’t win, it will be nice to have that for the Christmas and for the New Year’s break, have it for a few weeks, that will be nice.

“I’m obviously trying to be as good as I can and she’s one of a kind. She’s a really great golfer and she’s not slowing down. She knows she slowed down early in the year but she’s found a way to win again. That’s not a secret to anyone.

“She’s always worked hard and hopefully I can follow in her footsteps and keep winning tournaments.”

And perhaps matching Olympic gold medals.

The post A Min Woo/Minjee Lee Olympic double-act is suddenly within reach appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

[PHOTO: Eurasia Sport Images]

Cameron Smith has conceded he may have to travel to the far corners of Asia in 2024 to keep alive his dreams of playing golf in next year’s Olympics in Paris.

One of the consequences of Smith’s 2022 defection to LIV Golf—which had its application to receive Official World Golf Rankings points for its no-cut, 54-hole events denied in October—has been his plummet down the OWGR. The problem is, the Olympics uses the OWGR as a basis to determine who qualifies to compete in its event.

When Australian star Smith joined LIV in September 2022, he was ranked No.2 in the world and the reigning Open champion with six PGA Tour wins to his credit. Now, he sits 18th—and only after a runner-up the previous week in the Asian Tour’s Hong Kong Open.

Smith has performed admirably on his new tour and at the majors in 2023. He won LIV’s London and Bedminster events and finished second on its season-long points list. Smith also recorded top-10 finishes at the PGA Championship (T-9) at Oak Hill and the U.S. Open (fourth) at LACC this year.

But it may count for little if he doesn’t perform well in the 2024 majors, probably the only tournaments he’ll play where he can earn world-ranking points. The Olympics will automatically take the top 15 golfers on the OWGR to Paris, with a maximum of four per country. Outside the top 15, two players per country can be selected to fill the 60-player field.

As it stands on the rankings, Australia’s team would be Smith (18) and Jason Day (21). But as his ranking continues to drop, Smith could be overtaken by Day and possibly Cameron Davis (44) or Min Woo Lee (45). Both those Australians play on the PGA Tour and have a much easier path to improve their rankings. Smith, who played at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo alongside Marc Leishman, desperately wants to compete in the Games again. The cut-off for qualifying is June 17 for the men’s competition, the Monday after the U.S. Open.

“I definitely want to be there, mate; 100 percent,” the 30-year-old said at this week’s Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland in Brisbane. “I know the criteria, I don’t know if that can change, but I’ve got these couple of events here [the Australian PGA and the Australian Open, which are co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and therefore receive heightened world ranking points] and probably more looks again in the [2024] majors, so hopefully I can keep that ranking up and wear the (Australian national) coat of arms on the chest again. It’s pretty special.”

A solution, albeit a taxing one, is to add more Asian Tour events to his 2024 schedule in the lead-up to the June cut-off. LIV Golf has invested $US300 million into the Asian Tour, which does receive world ranking points. In turn, the tour created the International Series, which typically has a handful of LIV players at each of its events.

“Yeah, I think I would,” Smith said of adding Asian Tour events to his schedule. “But I think that’s a kind of wait-and-see type of thing. Hopefully, like you said, these couple of events down here can do plenty for me and those majors can definitely lift it up a lot.”

The post Cameron Smith faces a dilemma looming for all LIV golfers: How to qualify for the 2024 Olympics appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

The connection between golf and the Olympics is growing as the sport prepares to be part of a third straight Summer Games next year in Paris.

One year from today, the first round of the 72-hole men’s competition gets underway at the Albatros course at Le Golf National (August 1-4), site of the 2018 Ryder Cup. The women’s tournament starts three days after the men’s event ends, from August 7-10, before the closing ceremony August 11.

Player interest in participating in the Olympics increased after the sport’s return to the competition took place in 2016 in Rio. Similarly, after the conclusion of the COVID-delayed Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, several high-profile players suggested the experience exceeded their expectations. Among them was Rory McIlroy

“I made some [earlier] comments before that were probably uneducated and impulsive,” McIlroy said. “But coming here experiencing it, seeing, feeling everything that goes on, not just Olympic golf but just the Olympics in general, that sort of Olympic spirit’s definitely bitten me and I’m excited how this week’s turned out and excited for the future.”

McIlroy was part of a seven-way playoff for the bronze medal, won by Taiwan’s CT Pan. “It makes me even more determined to go to Paris and try to pick one up,” McIlroy said. “It’s disappointing going away from here without any hardware, I’ve been saying all day I never tried so hard in my life to finish third.”

The trickiest part now is for the top men and women to figure out a way to fit preparation into their already packed tour schedules. The men’s Olympic competition will come less than two weeks after the conclusion of the Open Championship at Royal Troon. The women’s tournament will likely fall shortly after the Amundi Evian Championship, also in France, in July (officials dates have yet to be released), and the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews scheduled for late August.

Qualifying for the 2024 Olympics began in July 2022, with golfers accumulating points in an official Olympics Ranking that essentially mirrors the men’s and women’s World Rankings. That provides another wrinkle on the men’s side: With golfers competing in the LIV Golf League not accumulating OWGR points, they also aren’t earning Olympic Ranking points either, making it more challenging for them to qualify for their country’s teams. (The qualifying period runs through June 17, 2024 for the men and June 24, 2024 for the women.)

So who will be competing in Paris? To get a glimpse at the possible teams for 2024, we applied the qualification criteria to the most recent Olympic rankings (July 23) and produced the full 60-player fields for the men’s and women’s tournaments.

Here a little refresher for how Olympic qualification works. These same rules apply to the men’s and women’s tournaments.

• The total field is 60 players, with at least one spot held for a golfer from the host country (France) if one does not otherwise qualify.

• No country can have more than four golfers competing.

• All golfers ranked in the top 15 qualify, up to the four-golfer maximum for each country.

• After the top 15 in the ranking, golfers ranked 16th and lower will qualify with no more than two players from any one country eligible to compete.

On the men’s side, only the United States has more than two golfers among the top 15 of the rankings (the Americans have nine as of July 24). So the first four—Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Max Homa—would make the team, with the remaining players, Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Cameron Young, needing to improve their status if they want to be playing in Paris. Again the tricky part here for Koepka is that LIV golfers don’t receive OWGR points.

USA’s Xander Schauffele celebrates after winning the gold medal at Japan’s Kasumigaseki Country Club in August 2021. YOSHI IWAMOTO

On the women’s side, the US is in a similar spot with three players among the top 15 of the women’s rankings: Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu and Allisen Corpuz.

In the men’s tournament, 31 golfers who competed in Tokyo also would be eligible for Paris, including Schauffele, the gold-medal winner, and Pan. For the women, Korda would be defending her gold and Lydia Ko would be eligible to try to claim a third medal after winning silver in 2016 and bronze in 2021. Thirty-one women also would be playing in a second straight Olympics.

The last player into the men’s field at the moment would be Colombia’s Nico Echavarria, who ranks 330th in the World Ranking. The odd person who would be out is Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger, who is ranked 344th.

The last player in the women’s field would be Italy’s Alessandra Fanali, ranked 359th. The first alternate among the women would be Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines (373rd).

Mind you, there are still 12 months to go with plenty of time for player movement.

MEN OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS

Alternates are the next highest ranked golfers from their respective countries who would be ranked high enough overall to qualify. *—competed in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo

Argentina Emiliano Grillo Alejandro Tosti

Australia Cameron Smith* Jason Day Alternates: Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Cam Davis, Lucas Herbert

Austria Sepp Straka*

Belgium Thomas Pieters* Thomas Detry*

Canada Corey Conners* Nick Taylor Alternates: Adam Hadwin, Adam Svensson, Mackenzie Hughes

Chile Joaquin Niemann* Mito Pereira*

China Carl Yuan* Zecheng Dou

Chinese Taipei C.T. Pan* Kevin Yu

Colombia Sebastian Munoz* Nico Echavarria

Denmark Rasmus Hojgaard* Thorbjorn Olesen Alternate: Nicolai Hojgaard

Finland Sami Valimaki* Kalle Samooja*

France Victor Perez Romain Langasque* Alternate: Antoine Rozner, Julien Guerrier

Germany Yannik Paul Stephan Jaeger Alternate: Maximillian Kieffer

Great Britain Matt Fitzpatrick Tyrrell Hatton Alternates: Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Robert MacIntyre

India Anirban Lahiri* Shubhankar Sharma

Ireland Rory McIlroy* Shane Lowry* Alternate: Seamus Power

Italy Francesco Molinari Guido Migliozzi*

Japan Hideki Matsuyama* Takumi Kanaya Alternates: Kazuki Higa, Rikuya Hoshino

Malaysia Gavin Green*

Mexico Abraham Ancer*

Netherlands Joost Luiten

New Zealand Ryan Fox* Daniel Hiller

Norway Viktor Hovland* Kristian Johannessen*

Paraguay Fabrizio Zanotti*

Poland Adrian Meronk*

South Africa Thriston Lawrence Christiaan Bezuidenhout* Alternate: Dean Burmester

South Korea Tom Kim Sungjae Im* Alternates: Si Woo Kim, K.H. Lee, Byeong Hun An

Spain Jon Rahm Pablo Larrazabal Alternate: Adrian Otaegui

Sweden Alex Noren* Alexander Bjork Alternate: David Lingmerth

Thailand Sadom Kawekanjana Phachara Khongwatmai Alternate: Jazz Janewattananond

U.S. Scottie Scheffler Patrick Cantlay Xander Schauffele* Max Homa Alternates: Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka

Venezuela Jhonattan Vegas*

Zimbabwe Scott Vincent*

WOMEN OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS

Alternates are the next highest ranked golfers from their respective countries who would be ranked high enough overall to qualify. *—competed in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo

Argentina Magdalena Simmermacher*

Australia Minjee Lee* Hannah Green* Alternate: Grace Kim

Austria Christine Wolf* Sarah Schober Alternate: Emma Spitz

Belgium Manon De Roey*

Canada Brooke Henderson* Maude-Aimee Leblanc Alternate: Maddie Szeryk

China Ruoning Yin Xiyu Lin*

Chinese Taipai Wei-Ling Hsu Chia Yen Wu Alternate: Peiyun Chien

Czech Republic Klara Davidson Spilkova* Kristyna Napoleaova Alternate: Sara Kouskova

Denmark Nanna Koerstz Madsen* Emily Kristine Pedersen*

Ecuador Daniela Darquea*

Finland Matilda Castren* Ursula Wikstrom Alternate: Noora Komulainen

France Celine Boutier* Perrine Delacour* Alternate: Pauline Roussin

Germany Chiara Noja Caroline Masson* Alternate: Esther Henseleit

Great Britain Georgia Hall Charley Hull Alternates: Jodi Ewart Shadoff, Gemma Dryburgh

India Aditi Ashok* Diksha Dagar*

Ireland Leona Maguire* Stephanie Meadow

Italy Virginia Elena Carta Alessandra Fanali

Japan Ayaka Furue Nasa Hataoka* Alternates: Miyu Yamashita, Yuka Saso, Chisato Iwai, Akie Iwai

Malaysia Natasha Oon Kelly Tan*

Mexico Gaby Lopez* Maria Fassi*

Morocco Ines Laklalech

The Netherlands Anne van Dam* Dewi Weber

New Zealand Lydia Ko* Momoka Kobori

Norway Celine Borge

The Philippines Dottie Ardina

Slovenia Pia Babnik*

South Africa Ashleigh Buhai Paula Reto

South Korea Jin Young Ko* Hyo-Hoo Kim* Alternates: In Gee Chun, Ji Yai Shin, Min Ji Park, Hye Jin Choi

Spain Carlota Ciganda* Ana Pelaez

Sweden Linn Grant Anna Nordqvist Alternates: Madelene Sagstrom, Maja Stark

Switzerland Albane Valenzuela* Morgane Metraux

Thailand Atthaya Thitkil Ariya Jutanugarn* Alternates: Pajaree Anannarukarn, Patty Tavatanakit, Vongtaveelap Natthakritta, Moriya Jutanugarn

United States Nelly Korda* Lilia Vu Allisen Corpuz Alternates: Lexi Thompson, Danielle Kang, Jennifer Kupcho, Megan Khang

The post The 2024 Olympics are a year away. Here are the current teams appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

A throwaway comment by Rory McIlroy after he missed out on a bronze medal was worth its weight in gold as golf’s much talked-about acceptance in the Olympic Games was reinforced following two glorious weeks at Tokyo 2020.

“I’ve been saying all day I never tried so hard in my life to finish third,” said the forlorn Irishman after he bowed out of a riveting seven-man playoff for third place in the men’s competition at Kasumigaseki Country Club.

As one of the world’s leading golf stars and more recently, the de-facto voice of reason for matters surrounding the game, McIlroy’s revelation was just the endorsement needed by the International Golf Federation to show that golf was here to stay in the Olympic programme and it does matter to the game’s elite. 

More importantly, Tokyo 2020 also underscored Olympic golf’s role in growing the sport globally as exemplified by Aditi Ashok’s stunning performance in the women’s competition, which made an entire nation of India sit up and take notice of the game. 

Success in professional sports is often measured by victories and trophies – nobody remembers the guy who finished second, third or fifth – but the fact that McIlroy, a former World No.1 and 19-time PGA TOUR winner, and six others fought like lions so desperate to win third place was testimony of the Olympic ideals.

When the royal and ancient sport was reintroduced in Rio 2016 following a 112-year lapse, the 32-year-old McIlroy was amongst the many skeptics of the game’s return. But he soon became an Olympic convert after his time in Tokyo, humbled to be proven wrong just as how he had changed his tune about the Ryder Cup which he initially termed as an “exhibition”.

“I made some comments before that were probably uneducated and impulsive, but coming here, experiencing it, seeing, feeling everything that goes on, not just Olympic golf but just the Olympics in general, that sort of Olympic spirit’s definitely bitten me and I’m excited how this week’s turned out and excited for the future. It makes me even more determined going to Paris (in 2024). I’m trying to go at least one better but hopefully three better,” said McIlroy.

Other stars who featured in Tokyo 2020 left with lifelong memories and renewed determination to return to Paris. “It’s so different. It was cooler than I thought it was,” said Justin Thomas, the 2017 FedExCup champion. “I’m more proud of being here than I thought I would be.”

Collin Morikawa, who also featured in the bronze medal playoff, added: “I think what today brought out of me was more than just playing for myself, I was playing for our country and I was able to fight and dig deep. To anyone that has second thoughts or doubts about whether golf should be in the Olympics or whether they should represent their country, they absolutely should because the Olympics reaches a wider audience than anything, a lot of tournaments that we play. We’re doing our part putting golf on the world stage.”

For Xander Schauffele, his golden moment at the historic Kasumigaseki’s East course meant the world to him, and also to his father, Stefan who was an Olympic decathlete hopeful before a car accident caused by a drunken driver dashed his dreams. Hailing from a multi-cultural family whose heritage intertwines across the globe – his father is French-German, his mother Ping-Yi was born in Chinese Taipei and grew up in Japan – Xander will now be the perfect poster boy to promote Olympic golf in years to come. His golden hour was aptly shared with Stefan, who insisted on sleeping with the gold medal on the first night of their famous win. 

“He put all his eggs in one basket for quite some time … to compete as a decathlete in the Olympics,” Xander said of his father and only coach. “Life came at him fast, it was swiped away from him, but he saw potential in me … and so he put all his eggs in my basket. For this to come full circle, I just feel very fortunate and really happy to share this with him. I knew he was going to be there crying, luckily he had shades on, but it was really cool.”

No one could have predicted the Slovakian national flag being hoisted during the medal ceremony but a grizzled Rory Sabbatini, who changed his nationality from South African to Slovakian in 2018, made sure golf was well on the radar in his adopted country following a spectacular silver medal effort courtesy of a final round 61. Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan won the bronze after four extra holes.

“South Africa has so many golfers to represent them, but Slovakia doesn’t have anybody. You got so many different other sports that are bigger. So we looked at it as a way to try and create some interest. For me to be here is very fortuitous. It’s been such a prideful moment to represent Slovakia and to see the flag raised,” said the 45-year-old, whose wife-cum-caddie is Slovakian and brother-in-law the head of the Slovakia Golf Federation.

Australia’s Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman came up short in their medal hunt, with Smith finishing one stroke outside the bronze medal playoff and Leishman coming in T51. The duo intend to get back to Paris 2024 and put on the green and gold again after soaking in the experience in what was their Olympic debuts.

“I mean, this is only once every four years. In my life time, there’s only going to be probably another, not too many gold medallists. As a golfer, I think we didn’t grow up thinking we would have a chance to win a medal, so I think as time goes on, this is going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. But this is a big deal. I mean, I think it would be, if it wasn’t equal to a Major, it would be a very, very, very close second,” said Leishman.

Smith was so fired up in representing Australia that he shaved “AUS” by the side of his head. He said: “I mean, it’s the Olympics. It doesn’t happen too often. I thought I would give Australia a shoutout on the side of the melon. I mean, I thought about it for a few weeks beforehand and then I just said stuff it, I’m going to do it, and I think it’s been received pretty good. My mom called me up. She was laughing. She was like, oh, you were just on the news. Called me all sorts of names, but she loved it and she loves that it brings a lot of, I guess, joy to, it puts a smile on everyone’s faces.”

Hannah Green, who featured in the women’s competition with Minjee Lee, finished tied fifth after challenging for a podium finish and vowed to make a quick return to Paris 2024. “Yeah, I’m definitely striving to make Paris. I didn’t really think too much of it but I guess it is only a few years away, so hopefully I can keep continuing to play well on the LPGA and do my job that way,” said said.

“I was trying to win a gold medal and my first couple hours on the golf course things weren’t going well and I was scrambling really hard. So I think to be even in contention come the last couple holes really proud of myself for how I hung in there and didn’t get too down on myself and tried to think of the bigger picture I guess and being so lucky that we even have an Olympics to compete in.”

American Nelly Korda, Japan’s Mone Inami and Lydia Ko of New Zealand were the medallists in the women’s golf competition which proved equally dramatic but it was Aditi Ashok, with her mother Maheshwari as caddie, who moved the needle for women’s golf with an eye-catching fourth-place finish. After saying it “sucks” to finish one stroke outside the medals, India’s leading two politicians, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind, and cricket legend, Sachin Tendulkar all tweeted messages of support and congratulations.

With their combined followers on Twitter being at over 120 million, it is safe to conclude the gospel of golf was successfully spread across this cricket-mad nation. Hopefully like McIlroy, some will be converted to Olympic golf fanatics.

Note: Chuah Choo Chiang is senior director, marketing and communications, APAC for the PGA TOUR and is based in Kuala Lumpur.

[IMAGES: International Golf Federation]

The post OPINION: Olympic Golf leaves its mark in Tokyo 2020 appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

Nelly Korda doesn’t tend to give much away. Although intense on the course, she’s not one to show an abundance of emotion during a tournament round. Even when she wins – six times now on the LPGA Tour, along with Olympic gold in Tokyo – Korda’s celebrations are reserved in comparison to other champs.

But that doesn’t mean she’s not feeling the moment. The data from Korda’s WHOOP fitness band shows just how much winning a gold medal at the Olympics meant to her.

The band, which Korda wears all day, on-course and while sleeping, measures her heart rate, strain and recovery. WHOOP pulled the data from the Olympics and found that the highest Korda’s heart rate spiked in the final round wasn’t when she hit the winning putt, or when she made a double-bogey on the seventh hole to lose the outright lead and slip into a three-way tie. Instead, the moment that Korda’s heart was beating fastest was when she was on the Olympic podium, receiving her gold medal. 

Throughout the final round, the highest her heart rate got was 154 beats per minute, which is in line with her average max heart rate this season, 155 beats per minute. While on the podium, meanwhile, her heart rate hit 172 beats per minute.

Korda may not throw the biggest fist pumps when she wins, but looking at her heart rate climb when she gets her medal shows how much she felt the victory.

PHOTO: Mike Ehrmann

The post The moment Nelly Korda’s heart rate was highest en route to her Olympic gold medal wasn’t the moment you’d expect appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

Marc Leishman has always been a bit of a larrikin. The big fella from Warrnambool has embraced his country-boy roots, never shy of displaying his easy-going nature and love of beer. He’s even been fully supportive of his good mate Cam Smith and his incredible mullet-growing exploits.

If it’s good for the game – and the people who watch it – ‘Leish’ is all in. Which is why he had no hesitation in pulling off perhaps his greatest trick shot yet – pranking the entire Australian golf entourage before they departed Tokyo last week.

Leish, clearly motivated by a little ‘Dutch courage’ during team celebrations (we assume he was drinking Leishman Lager, or maybe Grange?!), teamed up with Olympics broadcasters Channel 7 for the ultimate practical joke. Decked out in an Aussie blazer and Channel 7 microphone, Leish entered the Aussie team room with camera crew in tow, and started conducting a live interview with teammates for Channel 7’s Andrew Gaze and Andy Maher. Only he wasn’t crossing live at all, catching team captain Ian Baker-Finch and others completely off guard.

Check it out here (Oh, and LANGUAGE WARNING around 10 seconds from the end!):

That’s champagne comedy, folks. How about the classic “12th Man” Bill Lawry cry to finish things off. “WHAT A CATCH!!!”

It just gets funnier the more you watch it!

Suffice to say, when he’s done winning PGA Tour events, Marc Leishman might have a career behind the mic.

The post Marc Leishman proves he’s the king of comedy after pranking Aussie teammates with ‘live cross’ from Tokyo appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.