Golf was reintroduced to the Olympics at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro after a hiatus of 108 years and it remained in the schedule for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were eventually held in 2021 following a delay because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Like the previous Olympics in Brazil, there were competitions for both men and women, with 60 players in each of the fields as the action took place at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
However, only three players in each field could claim medals. Here are the details of who eventually made it to the podium.
The men’s event got underway on 29 July 2021, with a star-studded field including the likes of four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, who had just claimed his second Major title at The Open and local hero Hideki Matsuyama, who had won The Masters less than four months earlier.
However, in the end, the three who took the medals didn’t have a Major win between them…
Xander Schauffele – Gold (USA)
Schauffele was one of four players on the US men’s team, along with Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed, and after the opening round, none were in the top 10 of the leaderboard as Austria’s Sepp Straka opened up a one-shot lead with an eight-under 63.
Schauffele headed into the second round in touch, though, at three-under, and he matched Straka’s feat in the second round with a 63 of his own to take the outright lead by one over Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz.
By the end of the third round, Schauffele’s lead was the same following a 68 to leave him 14-under for the tournament, this time with Matsuyama his nearest challenger, and a final round of 67 was enough to see him claim the gold medal by one over a veteran who had to settle for silver…
Rory Sabbatini – Silver (Slovakia)
By the time the Games came around, Slovakian Sabbatini’s best days appeared to be in the past.
He had won six-times on the PGA Tour between 2000 and 2011 and finished runner-up at the Masters in 2007, enjoying a career-high of eighth along the way. However, by the time he teed it up in Tokyo, he was 44-years-old and ranked well outside the top 100, with his most notable performances in recent years coming with victory at the 2019 QBE Shootout and a T16 at that year’s Open.
He turned back the clock in style in Tokyo, though, beginning solidly with a round of 69 to leave him six off the lead, and following that up with rounds of 67 and 70. Still, he was a distant 10 shots behind leader Schauffele heading into the final round, but he found an extra gear with a brilliant 10-under 61.
So surprising had Sabbatini’s rise up the leaderboard been that Schauffele didn’t know he’d drawn level with him at the 17th until he glanced at the leaderboard. The American described that as a “wake-up call” as he duly closed out the win leaving Sabbatini in outright second.
CT Pan – Bronze (Chinese Taipei)
While Schauffele and Sabbatini’s medals were decided without needing a playoff, it was a different story for Chinese Taipei star Pan. He found himself locked on 15-under for the tournament with six others after the final round, meaning they all needed to compete in a playoff to determine the bronze medal winner.
Among them was Ireland’s McIlroy, US star Morikawa and Matsuyama. The Japanese star’s hopes fell by the wayside early when he bogeyed the first extra hole and was eliminated along with Great Britain and Ireland’s Paul Casey.
Three more, McIlroy, Chilean Mito Pereira and Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz were then eliminated after pars on the third extra hole, leaving just Pan and Morikawa in the running.
On the 18th, Pan holed an eight-foot par putt and that proved enough for the bronze, as Morikawa could only manage a bogey.
Three days after the end of the men’s competition, it was the women’s turn, with another star-studded field including the likes of Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit, US star and World No.1 at the time Nelly Korda and Australia’s Minjee Lee, who had each won Majors that year by the time the Olympics began.
In the end, one of the trio lived up to her billing by claiming gold…
Nelly Korda – Gold (USA)
Korda had claimed three wins in 2021 heading into the Olympics, including the Women’s PGA Championship a little over a month earlier, so it came as no surprise when she claimed gold.
The American was just one off overnight leader Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden after the first round courtesy of a 67, and by the halfway stage, she had eased into a four-shot lead following a nine-under second round of 62 that would have been better but for a double bogey on the final hole.
Korda could only manage a 69 in the third round, but she still had a three-shot lead over India’s Adita Ashok going into the final round, and another 69 was enough to see off her two closest challengers by one, who would ultimately need a playoff to decide the silver and bronze medals…
Mone Inami – Silver (Japan)
After finishing her first round four off the lead following a 70, Japan’s Inami was a model of consistency throughout the remainder of the tournament.
A six-under 65 in the second round somehow found her two shots further back of the lead thanks to Korda’s brilliance, but she refused to give up the fight and went into the final round in T3, five behind Korda following a 68.
Another 65 in the final round got her within one shot of a playoff for gold, but she finished T2 with one other and wrapped it up in the first extra hole thanks to a par. The player she beat?
Lydia Ko – Bronze (New Zealand)
The New Zealander had won silver at the 2016 Games and she would have been favorite to repeat the feat after rounds of 70, 67, 66 and 65 saw her fall just one short of gold medal winner Korda and into the playoff.
While her opponent Inami made par at the hole she had bogeyed minutes earlier to give Korda the win, two-time Major winner Ko missed her own par putt at the first playoff hole, meaning she needed to settle for bronze.
While that would have been disappointing for Ko, she at least had the consolation of becoming the first golfer in Olympics history to win two medals.
