By ED TRAVIS
For those interested in what some say is the ultimate in international competition the third iteration of modern Olympic golf starts with the men’s tournament on Thursday Aug. 1 and the women on Wednesday the 7th. Both are 72-hole events and are to be played over the Le Golf National course in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines outside Paris.
Fans will remember this is the same course the American Ryder Cup team was trounced by the Euros back in 2018.
The fields for Olympic golf are not large only 60 men and 60 women. Places for each country are chosen from Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) for the men and the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings (RWGR) for the women. The top 15 places are eligible but there is a limit of four players from any one country. After that, to fill out the fields the top two players from each country are invited as long as the country doesn’t already have two or more players in the top 15.
The men’s American Olympic team consists of world number one Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele (OWGR 2), Wyndham Clark (OWGR 5) and Collin Morikawa (OWGR 9).
By any standard a very strong team. Scheffler has won six times on Tour this season including the Masters and Schauffele has two majors, the PGA Championship and British Open. Schauffele is also the defending men’s Olympic champion winning in 2020 in Tokyo.
The American women’s team is packed as well: world number on Nelly Korda, Lillia Vu (RWGR 2) and Rose Zhang (RWGR 9). Korda of course was the champion four years ago besting Mone Inami of Japan and Lydia Ko of New Zealand.
Both the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour take a week off during the Olympics.
Golf had not been played as an Olympic sport since 1904 when it returned for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Short Putts
It’s never been done before, winning on the PGA Tour in the same year first as an amateur and then as a professional. In January Nick Dunlap, a sophomore at the University of Alabama, won the American Express Invitational, turned pro, and then won the Barracuda Championship. Unfortunately for Dunlap most of the golf world was paying attention to Xander Schauffele’s triumphing at The Open but the personable 20-year-old, who now ranked 41st in the world, probably doesn’t mind.
Tour Edge Golf founder David Glod who pioneered premium-designed clubs with the latest materials selling for up to 40% less than competitive models from other manufacturers has stepped down as president and will take over as CEO. Tim Clarke the former top man at Wilson Golf is the new president. Glod started Tour Edge in 1986 and is considered one of the top club designers in the business.
