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Golf Monthly
Golf Monthly
Sport
Jonny Leighfield

Why Does Team USA Have Four Players In Men's Olympic Golf?

Wyndham Clark (far left), Scottie Scheffler (left), Collin Morikawa (right), and Xander Schauffele (far right) smile in their Team USA Olympic golf gear.

In both of the Paris 2024 Olympic golf events, there are 120 players from 32 nations competing across four days of individual stroke play.

Due to there only being 60 golfers per tournament, there will not be a halfway cut at Le Golf National, giving each person the chance to fully bathe in the Olympic experience and retain the chance of winning a medal.

The field for each tournament was set back in June after the final tournament in the Olympic Golf Ranking qualification period was completed. Players had been given around two years to secure as many points as possible in order to book a spot on their Olympic team.

Once the average points tally per athlete was finalized, the Olympic Golf Ranking positions were set. The top-15 in the Official World Golf Ranking were exempt from this category, however, but that maxed out at four golfers per country.

And, per the Olympic website, "After the top 15, the Olympic Golf Rankings (OGR) consist of up to the top two eligible players per country, as long as that country does not already have at least two players in the top 15."

Patrick Cantlay is World No.8 but did not qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris (Image credit: Getty Images)

As a result, only four of the nine American men inside the World's top-15 at the time were eligible to represent the Stars and Stripes in France - with World No.1, 3, 5, and 7 (as of June 17) given the nod.

Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, and Collin Morikawa will tee it up for the USA at Le Golf National while Patrick Cantlay (World No. 8), Bryson DeChambeau (10), Brian Harman (11), Sahith Theegala (14), and Max Homa (15) watch on from afar.

Men's Olympic golf round one and two tee times

How to watch Olympic Golf at Paris 2024

It is a similar story in the women's Olympic golf event, too, with a couple of nations - one of which being the USA - sending three competitors over to Paris.

World No.1 Nelly Korda, World No.2 Lilia Vu, and World No.9 Rose Zhang are a part of the US Olympic squad's sizeable delegation. The other country to have three golfers in the 60-player field is South Korea. Jin-young Ko leads the Korean squad alongside Amy Yang and Hyo-joo Kim.

Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy spoke ahead of the Paris 2024 men's golf event (Image credit: Getty Images)

Many other countries in both the men's and women's event have two golfers representing them - including Ireland, which has Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry - while some only have one.

The men's tournament takes place first between Thursday August 1 and Sunday, August 4 before the women follow suit between Wednesday, August 7 and Sunday 10.

Men's Olympic Golf Field

  • Argentina - Emiliano Grillo, Alejandro Tosti
  • Australia - Jason Day, Min Woo Lee
  • Austria - Sepp Straka
  • Belgium - Thomas Detry,  Adrien Dumont du Chassart
  • Canada - Corey Conners, Nick Taylor
  • Chile - Mito Pereira, Joaquin Niemann
  • China - Zechang Dou, Carl Yuan
  • Chinese Taipei - CT Pan, Kevin Yu
  • Colombia - Nico Echevarria, Camillo Villages
  • Denmark - Nicolai Hojgaard, Thorbjorn Olesen
  • Finland - Sami Valimaki, Tapio Pulkkanen
  • France - Matthieu Pavon, Victor Perez
  • Germany - Stephan Jaeger, Matti Schmid
  • Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood
  • India - Gaganjeet Bhullar, Shubshankar Sharma
  • Ireland - Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy
  • 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
  • South Africa - Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Erik Van Rooyen
  • South Korea - Byeong Hun An, Tom Kim
  • Spain - Jon Rahm, David Puig
  • Sweden - Ludvig Aberg, Alex Noren
  • Switzerland - Joel Girrbach
  • Thailand - Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Phachara Khongwatmai
  • United States - Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler

Women's Olympic Golf Field

  • Australia - Hannah Green, Minjee Lee
  • Austria - Emma Spitz
  • 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 - Ursala Wikstrom, Noora Komulainen
  • France - Celine Boutier, Perrine Delacour
  • Germany - Esther Henseleit, Alexandra Forsterling
  • Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Charley 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
  • Netherlands - Anne van Dam, Dewi Weber
  • New Zealand - Lydia Ko, Momoka Kobori
  • Norway - Celine Borge, Madelene Stavnar
  • Philippines - Bianca Pagdanganan, Dottie Ardina
  • Scotland - Gemma Dryburgh
  • Singapore - Shannon Tan
  • Slovenia - Ana Belac
  • South Africa - Ashleigh Buhai, Paula Reto
  • South Korea - Jin Young Ko, Amy Yang, Hyo Joo Kim
  • Spain - Carlota Ciganda, Azahara Munoz
  • Sweden - Maja Stark, Linn Grant
  • Switzerland - Albane Valenzuela, Morgane Metraux
  • Thailand - Atthaya Thitikul, Patty Tavatanakit
  • United States - Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu, Rose Zhang
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