Golf at the Summer Olympics

This article will address the topic of Golf at the Summer Olympics, which has aroused great interest in different areas. Golf at the Summer Olympics has been analyzed from different perspectives, generating various debates and conflicting opinions. Throughout history, Golf at the Summer Olympics has played a relevant role in different contexts, which has led to its in-depth study. Through this article, we aim to offer a global and updated vision of Golf at the Summer Olympics, addressing its origins, evolution and its impact today. Through a detailed and rigorous analysis, we will seek to provide the reader with a more complete understanding of Golf at the Summer Olympics and its relevance in contemporary society.

Golf at the Summer Olympics
IOC CodeGLF
Governing bodyIGF
Events2 (men: 1; women: 1)
Summer Olympics
  • 1924
  • 1928
  • 1932
  • 1936
  • 1948
  • 1952
  • 1956
  • 1960
  • 1964
  • 1968
  • 1972
  • 1976
  • 1980
  • 1984
  • 1988
  • 1992
  • 1996
  • 2000

Golf is officially recognized as firstly featuring in the Summer Olympic Games programme in 1900 and was also contested at the 1904 Summer Olympics. A golf tournament was to have been held in 1908, but it was cancelled less than two days before it was scheduled to start.[1] Two golf tournaments were also to have been held in 1920, but were cancelled due to a lack of entries.

At the IOC session in Copenhagen in October 2009, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to reinstate the sport for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[2][3] The International Golf Federation is the governing body for golf at the Olympic Games. Qualification is based primarily upon the Official World Golf Ranking (men) and Women's World Golf Rankings, with the top 15 of each gender automatically qualifying (with a limit of four per country), and then the highest ranked players from countries that had not yet already qualified two players.[4][5][6][7]

Medal table

Sources:[8]

Total

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States (USA)63514
2 Great Britain (GBR)1214
3 New Zealand (NZL)1113
4 Canada (CAN)1001
 South Korea (KOR)1001
6 Japan (JPN)0112
7 Germany (GER)0101
 Slovakia (SVK)0101
 Sweden (SWE)0101
10 China (CHN)0022
11 Chinese Taipei (TPE)0011
Totals (11 entries)10101131

Men

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States (USA)42410
2 Great Britain (GBR)1214
3 Canada (CAN)1001
4 Slovakia (SVK)0101
 Sweden (SWE)0101
6 Chinese Taipei (TPE)0011
 Japan (JPN)0011
Totals (7 entries)66719

Women

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States (USA)2114
2 New Zealand (NZL)1113
3 South Korea (KOR)1001
4 Germany (GER)0101
 Japan (JPN)0101
6 China (CHN)0022
Totals (6 entries)44412

Events

1900
1904
1908

A men's individual tournament was planned for the 1908 London Games, but a dispute amongst representatives of England and Scotland over the format led to British golfers boycotting, leaving 1904 gold medallist George Lyon of Canada as the only remaining entrant.[9] He was entitled to claim the gold medal but declined.[9]

1920

Two golf tournaments were planned at the 1920 Antwerp Games, but were cancelled due to a lack of entries.[10]

2016
2020
2024

Since its reintroduction, Olympic golf competitions have consisted of men's and women's individual stroke play. There has been calls for the IGF and the IOC to consider adding a match play tournament, a team tournament, and/or to open up the Olympic tournament to more golfers, possibly by using a different qualifying system than the World Golf Ranking.[12]

Courses

Year Host city Course(s)
1900 France Paris Compiègne Golf Club
1904 United States St. Louis Glen Echo Country Club, Normandy, Missouri
1908 United Kingdom London Royal St George's Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent
Prince's Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent
Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club, Deal, Kent
1920 Belgium Antwerp Cappelen's Golf Club, Antwerp
2016 Brazil Rio de Janeiro Olympic Golf Course, Barra da Tijuca
2020 Japan Tokyo Kasumigaseki Country Club, Kawagoe
2024 France Paris Le Golf National, Guyancourt
2028 United States Los Angeles Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California
2032 Australia Brisbane Royal Queensland Golf Club, Eagle Farm, Queensland

Medal summary

Men's individual

Games Gold Silver Bronze
1900 Paris
 Charles Sands
 United States 		Walter Rutherford
 Great Britain 		David Robertson
 Great Britain
1904 St. Louis
 George Lyon
 Canada 		Chandler Egan
 United States 		Burt McKinnie
 United States
Francis Newton
 United States
1908 cancelled[a]
1912 not included in the Olympic program
1920 cancelled[b]
1924–2012 not included in the Olympic program
2016 Rio
 Justin Rose
 Great Britain 		Henrik Stenson
 Sweden 		Matt Kuchar
 United States
2020 Tokyo
 Xander Schauffele
 United States 		Rory Sabbatini
 Slovakia 		Pan Cheng-tsung
 Chinese Taipei
2024 Paris
 Scottie Scheffler
 United States 		Tommy Fleetwood
 Great Britain 		Hideki Matsuyama
 Japan
  1. ^ A dispute amongst representatives of England and Scotland over the format led to British golfers boycotting, leaving 1904 gold medallist George Lyon of Canada as the only remaining entrant.[1] Olympic organisers offered to award Lyon the gold medal by default, but Lyon refused it.
  2. ^ Cancelled due to lack of entries.

Women's individual

Games Gold Silver Bronze
1900 Paris
 Margaret Abbott
 United States 		Pauline Whittier
 United States 		Daria Pratt
 United States
1904–2012 not included in the Olympic program
2016 Rio
 Inbee Park
 South Korea 		Lydia Ko
 New Zealand 		Shanshan Feng
 China
2020 Tokyo
 Nelly Korda
 United States 		Mone Inami
 Japan 		Lydia Ko
 New Zealand
2024 Paris
 Lydia Ko
 New Zealand 		Esther Henseleit
 Germany 		Lin Xiyu
 China

Men's team

Games Gold Silver Bronze
1904 St. Louis
  United States (USA)
 United States (USA)
 United States (USA)

Participating nations

22 golfers competed in 1900. The 1904 tournament featured 77 golfers. Albert Lambert was the only golfer who competed both times; a total of 98 different golfers competed throughout the brief history of Olympic golf before it was brought back in 2016.[citation needed]

Nation 96 00 04 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20 24 Years
 Argentina (ARG)                                                   2 1 2 3
 Australia (AUS)                                                   4 4 4 3
 Austria (AUT)                                                   2 3 3 3
 Bangladesh (BAN)                                                   1 1
 Belgium (BEL)                                                   3 3 3 3
 Brazil (BRA)                                                   3 1
 Canada (CAN)   3                                                 4 4 4 4
 Chile (CHI)                                                   1 2 2 3
 China (CHN)                                                   4 4 4 3
 Chinese Taipei (TPE)                                                   4 3 4 3
 Colombia (COL)                                                   1 2 3 3
 Czech Republic (CZE)                                                   1 2 2 3
 Denmark (DEN)                                                   4 4 4 3
 Ecuador (ECU)                                                   1 1
 Finland (FIN)                                                   4 4 4 3
 France (FRA)   9                                                 4 4 4 4
 Germany (GER)                                                   4 4 4 3
 Great Britain (GBR)   4                                                 4 4 4 4
 Greece (GRE)   1                                                 1
 Hong Kong (HKG)                                                   1 1 2
 India (IND)                                                   3 4 4 3
 Ireland (IRL)                                                   4 4 4 3
 Israel (ISR)                                                   1 1
 Italy (ITA)                                                   4 4 3 3
 Japan (JPN)                                                   4 4 4 3
 Malaysia (MAL)                                                   4 2 2 3
 Mexico (MEX)                                                   3 4 4 3
 Morocco (MAR)                                                   1 1 1 3
 Netherlands (NED)                                                   1 1 1 3
 New Zealand (NZL)                                                   3 2 3 3
 Norway (NOR)                                                   3 3 4 3
 Paraguay (PAR)                                                   2 1 1 3
 Philippines (PHI)                                                   1 3 2 3
 Poland (POL)                                                   1 1 2
 Portugal (POR)                                                   2 1
 Puerto Rico (PUR)                                                   2 1 2
 Russia (RUS)                                                   1 1
 Singapore (SGP)                                                   1 1
 Slovakia (SVK)                                                   1 1
 Slovenia (SLO)                                                   1 2 1
 South Africa (RSA)                                                   4 2 4 3
 South Korea (KOR)                                                   6 6 5 3
 Spain (ESP)                                                   4 4 4 3
 Sweden (SWE)                                                   4 4 4 3
 Switzerland (SUI)                                                   2 2 3 3
 Thailand (THA)                                                   4 4 4 3
 United States (USA)   8 74                                                 7 8 7 5
 Venezuela (VEN)                                                   1 1 2
 Zimbabwe (ZIM)                                                   1 1
Nations   4 2                                                 41 42 38 49
Athletes   22 77                                                 120 120 120
Year 96 00 04 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 20 24

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Golf | Olympic competitions Abandoned". The People. 31 May 1908. p. 17. Retrieved 27 January 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Wilson, Stephen (13 August 2009). "Golf, rugby backed by IOC board for 2016 Games". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  3. ^ "Golf & rugby voted into Olympics". BBC Sport. 9 October 2009.
  4. ^ Harig, Bob (5 March 2014). "Olympic golf qualifying date set". ESPN.
  5. ^ "Olympic Games - Qualification System - IGF". International Golf Federation. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  6. ^ Axson, Scooby (14 July 2014). "Rules for golf qualifying in the 2016 Olympic Games: U.S. will only get four players no matter how many in Top 15". Golf Magazine.
  7. ^ "International Golf Federation". olympic.org. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  8. ^ "Olympic Analytics - Medals by Countries". olympanalyt.com. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  9. ^ a b Wallechinsky, David (1984). The Complete Book To The Olympics. England: Penguin Books. p. 428. ISBN 0140066322.
  10. ^ "Olympic Golf Abandoned". The New York Times. 4 July 1920. p. 19. Retrieved 18 February 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Golf". Rio2016.com. Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  12. ^ "Fixing Olympic Golf". Pro Golf Now. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.