Olympic Golf Preview - Paris 2024

The Paris 2024 Olympics are well underway but for golf fans, the main event begins at 8:00 a.m., Thursday, August 1 with the Men's Individual Stroke Play. The women follow up a week later, teeing off at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 7. Four days of individual strokeplay will determine your Olympic Champion. There is no Para Golf at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Le Golf National - L'Albatros

With more than 200 countries competing, Le Golf National serves as host. Not surprisingly, the Albatross (L'Albatros) Course from 1987 will serve as the venue. The golf course is best known for hosting the Ryder Cup in 2018 where the European side handily defeated the Americans 17 1/2 to 10 1/2. Le Golf National also hosts the French Open on the DP World Tour and has hosted the Eisenhower and Espirito Santo Trophies (see below).

The golf course is maligned by purists but applauded for the spectacle it produced during the Ryder Cup. The club describes itself as having the feeling of traditional links but the modern features of target golf - a delicate, and some would say near impossible, balance to strike.

Much of the controversy surrounding Le Golf National lies in the penal use of water hazards. Water hazards make it very difficult for the average golfer, but the heroic nature of the demanded shots can make for compelling viewing. There is always the risk the fight becomes attritional. The best result will be complete chaos as a handful of players battle out in a spectacular fight of the ages rather than whoever rinses the least amount of balls.

Golf & The Olympics - An Ongoing Controversy

Of interest, the International Golf Federation is the governing body for the sport at the Olympics rather than the R&A or USGA. The IGF exists to run the Olympics, the Eisenhower Trophy and Espirito Santo Trophy (biennial world team championships for amateur men and women respectively). The IGF use the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) to determine eligibility and with the ongoing LIV vs PGA Tour saga, it is only adding fuel to the fire.

Qualification is based on the Official World Golf Rankings for men and Women's World Golf Rankings for ladies. Because of the current riff in professional golf, many will cry foul with the majority of LIV golfers not qualifying due to not being awarded OWGR points. Notably, American's Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson won't be competing. Some would suggest the issue isn't the points system but rather the depth of the American side. The Top 15 on the OWGR are eligible with a maximum of four from a single country. The rest consist of the two top-ranked players from each country. A total of 60 will compete for gold.

LIV golfers qualifying through being the best from their respective countries rather than in the OWGR are Mito Pereira and Joaquin Niemann from Chile, Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz from Mexico, Adrian Meronk from Poland, along with Jon Rahm and David Puig from Spain.

Modern History of Olympic Golf

Golf at the Olympics has a sordid past. Some of the most incredible stories and historically significant events of the modern Olympiad are linked to golf…

Summer Olympics 1900 Paris

Golf debuted at the Paris Olympics in 1900. The Compeigne Golf Club served as the host. The golf course was north of Paris on a golf course designed by M.W. Freemantle inside a horse racing track reminiscent of Musselburgh Old. One of 25 golf courses in France at the time, it was described as flat with thick rough and tiny greens.

36 holes on a single day decided the men's victor and 9 holes the following day decided the victor of the women. Done without much fanfare, Margaret Abbott, the women's golf medalist never knew she was competing in the Olympics. Incredible that she was the first woman to ever win an Olympic medal and she never knew!

France, Great Britain, United States, and Greece all entered competitors with the USA taking home 4 of the 6 medals and Great Britain taking home the remaining two.

Other associated events were also held, for example, putting; but these were not considered Olympic Events.

Summer Olympics 1904 St Louis

The 1904 Olympics was held in St Louis, MI, USA. Two rounds of stroke play whittled down the field of 3 Canadians and 72 Americans to just 32. The matchplay component was a 36-hole match which reduced the field from 32 to just 2 in five rounds. Between September, 19 and 24, 1904, the eventual winner would have potentially played 216 holes if all matches went the distance… 36 holes a day for 5 days.

In the end, George Lyon from Ontario, Canada, a 46-year-old who picked up the game just 8 years earlier, took home the gold medal. He would end up winning the Canadian Amateur 8 times.

There was also a team event. 6 teams entered, 2 showed up on the day and 1 was formed at the last minute - a team representing the USGA. The three 10-man teams competed with the Western Golf Association defeating the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association which allowed the USGA squad to take home a guaranteed bronze.

Summer Olympics 1908 London

George Lyon would travel to London in 1908 to defend the gold medal and was awarded it by default as the event was cancelled at the last minute. He refused to accept the medal after the the organisers and the R&A couldn't agree on the format and the event was called off.

The British and Americans were either disqualified or withdrawn and the lone man standing was George Lyon. In perhaps the greatest display of sportsmanship, he refused the medal as sport was a gentlemanly affair' through which an award should only be accepted 'through proper competition.'

The trifecta of golf courses planned to be used were: Princes Golf Club, Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club and Royal St George's Golf Club. Sandwich was to hold the first 36-hole matches, followed by Princes and culminating at Deal.

Summer Olympics 1920 Antwerp

Golf at the Olympics were again mired in controversy with the event being cancelled due to a lack of entries. Although no golf was played, Cappelan's Golf Club was the venue.

Golf at the Olympics had run its course. After 4 attempts, two of the games were not even contested and the others were shambles. Golf at the Olympics would have to wait for over a century to be seen again.

Summer Olympics Rio 2016

Golf made its triumphant return to the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Justin Rose would take the gold, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar the bronze for the men. Inbee Park, Lydia Ko and Shashan Feng would be the champions in the women's event.

Summer Olympics Tokyo 2020

A somewhat subdued COVID-19 pandemic-tainted games, they were contested in 2021 without spectators behind closed doors on the East Course at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Japan. Xander Schauffele, Rory Sabbatini and CT Pan took gold, silver and bronze in the individual men's stroke play with Nelly Korda, Mone Inami and Lyda Ko taking home the medals in the women's individual stroke play.

Lydia Ko is the only two-time modern golf medalist. She won the Silver in Rio in 2016 and Bronze in Tokyo in 2020 (2021). Will she make it a Gold in Paris in 2024?

Future Olympic Golf Venues

The more ardent and traditional golf course architecture fans will not be enamoured with the venue of Le Golf National and even more will cry foul at professionals being allowed to compete. Some may go as far as to say elite amateurs should be playing at more notable golf courses like Morfontaine, Chantilly, Fontainebleau, St Germain or even Gil Hanse' New Course at Les Bordes. Whatever the case, the next Olympic Games should satisfy the more architecturally inclined golfer…

Summer Olympics 2028 Los Angeles

What will is no doubt the most architecturally significant golf course to host the Olympics after CH Alison's Kasumigaseki Country Club East Course will be the ultra-elite Riviera Country Club.

The George C Thomas and WP Bell design hosts the annual PGA Genesis Invitational and has hosted the US Open, PGA Championship, US Senior Open and USA Amateur. Before the 2028 Olympics, the club will host the 2026 US Women's Open and following will host the 131st US Open in 2031.

Summer Olympics 2032 Brisbane

The Royal Queensland Golf Club will host the Olympics in 2032. Perhaps Australia's least-known golfing region, the games will be played on a golf course with pedigree. The course, as it sits today, was the product of Mike Clayton, who created it in 2007. It is thought Dr Alister MacKenzie advised on the original layout but all but 11 of his playing corridors have been lost. Geoff Ogilvy, partner at OCM Golf, has been called upon to update the golf course for 2032.

With a foundation laid by MacKenzie, reworked by Clayton and refined by Ogilvy, Royal Queensland will be the best it can be in 2032. When compared with the quality of golf on offer elsewhere in Australia, some still won't be satisfied.