A view of the Albatros course at Le Golf National outside Paris, which will host the men's and women's tournaments.
With respect
If you're looking for a PGA Tour event this week, you won't find it. The Tour is closed – and so is LIV Golf – as some of the world's best golfers will combine it for the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Women continues next week.) Here's what you need to know.
History
This is the third straight year that the Olympics have featured golf, which was originally an Olympic sport back in 1900 and 1904. Then the game waited 112 short years before re-emerging in 2016.
Format
It's easy. Sixty players qualified for the Olympics, and four rounds of stroke play. The tournament starts on Thursday and ends on Sunday.
Eligibility
The top 15 players in the World Golf Ranking automatically qualify for the Games, although that group is limited to four per country (which is why US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau, for example, is not in the field). After that, the top two golfers from each country are selected until the field reaches 60.
Past winners
At the Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016, Justin Rose (Great Britain) won gold, Henrik Stenson (Sweden) won silver and Matt Kuchar (USA) won bronze. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – actually held in 2021 – Xander Schauffele (USA) won gold, Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia) took silver and CT Pan (Chinese Taipei) got bronze.
American players
Scottie Scheffler, Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark made up the four American players. Scheffler is the betting favorite, closely followed by Schauffele, who won gold at the last Olympics and won the Open Championship two weeks ago.
Emotional Jon Rahm earns first LIV Golf win after Hatton's 3-putt finish
Josh Behow
Some stars
Jon Rahm (Spain), Rory McIlroy (Ireland), Viktor Hovland (Norway) and Hideki Mastsuyama (Japan) are a few other big name players who have won. You can see the full field here. McIlroy was one of several pros who skipped golf's return to the Olympics in 2016 due to concerns about the Zika virus, but he returned to Tokyo and was one of seven players competing in a playoff for the bronze medal, which was eventually won by. CT Pan.
Does Tiger Woods play?
No.
LIV players
Seven LIV golfers are in the field, a list headlined by Rahm, who earned his first LIV victory on Sunday, and Joaquin Niemann (Chile).
Lesson
If the Albatros course at Le Golf National outside Paris looks familiar, that's because it should. It has long hosted the DP World Tour's Open de France, and in 2018 it was the site of the Ryder Cup, where the Europeans beat the Americans 17.5 to 10.5.
How to watch it
If you're in the States — get up early! Action begins at 3 a.m. ET Thursday through Sunday on Golf Channel. The final round will air again at 2 p.m. ET Sunday on the USA Network. It can also be streamed on Peacock.
Source link
