Paris 2024: Schauffele, Rahm, Ko take aim at Olympic golf glory

Just one year from now, 120 of the world’s best golfers – 60 men and 60 women – will gather at Le Golf National to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games.

The course, located just southwest of Paris and only 15 minutes from the majestic Palace of Versailles, is no stranger to international competition after hosting the 2018 Ryder Cup as well as the DP World Tour’s Open de France 28 times.

However, golf in the Olympics is in its relative infancy, as the sport returned to the Olympic program in 2016 after an absence of 112 years. The coveted gold, silver and bronze medals awarded in France (the men’s stroke-play event is set for Aug. 1-4, while the women take center stage Aug. 7-10) will be just the fifth set for the men and the fourth for the women.

Even so, what unfolds during that two-week span in August 2024 could be historic.

No male or female golfer has ever medaled in three Olympics. But barring a precipitous drop in the Olympic Golf Ranking over the next 12 months, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko will head to Paris with just that opportunity.

Ko captured silver at the 2016 Games in Rio, finishing five strokes behind South Korea’s Inbee Park despite Ko making her first-ever ace during the third round. And at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, Ko took home bronze after losing a playoff for silver to Japan’s Mone Inami. Ko and Inami both finished a shot behind USA’s gold medalist, Nelly Korda.

A 19-time winner on the LPGA Tour, Ko recently told Olympics.com that competing in Paris is one of her biggest goals for next year. And while earning a third straight medal of any color is a top priority, she’d like nothing better than to complete her set with a gold.

“Paris is probably going to be my last Olympics,” the 26-year-old said recently. “…I don't know whether I’d like to be competing by the time it comes to L.A. (and Riviera Country Club in 2028). (Paris is) definitely the biggest thing that's lingering in my mind. …

“It’d be pretty surreal to say that you've medaled at all three of the Olympics since its return in over 100 years… It'd be really cool to say I have the trio of all three colors.”

Ko is used to making history, too. She won her first LPGA event at age 15 and her first major at 18, and in each case, she was the youngest to ever do so. And when she was ranked No. 1 in the world at the age of 17, she was the youngest male or female to reach that position, too.

The competition on the Albatros course at Le Golf National, designed by Hubert Chesneau and Robert von Hagge and opened in 1990, will be challenging, though.

Just making the Olympic field is a competition in itself, as players are selected from the Olympic Golf Rankings (which are based on the Official World Golf Ranking). The top 15 men and top 15 women from the rankings list are eligible to play in the Games, but it should be noted that each country is limited to four players total.

Once past No. 15 in the Olympic Golf Rankings, countries that don’t already have two or more in the top 15 are eligible to enter a maximum of two players. Ko currently ranks third behind world No. 1 Jin Young Ko of South Korea and 2020 gold medalist Korda, who’s also aiming for another shot at a medal.

“I kind of had watery eyes,” Korda told Golf Channel after her 2019 victory. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is surreal.’ You don’t understand it until you’re in the position. It’s such an incredible feeling at the end of the day.

“You’re not just playing for yourself; you’re playing for your country. There’s so much history in the Olympics, and just to be a part of that is amazing.”

Scottie Scheffler, who won the 2022 Masters and 2023 PLAYERS Championship, leads the men’s Olympic rankings. A PGA TOUR rookie in 2020, Scheffler is aiming to make his Olympic debut, as would two other potential U.S. players currently ranked among the top six – Patrick Cantlay and Max Homa – if they can hold onto their spots.

Reigning gold medalist Xander Schauffele also is well positioned in the mix for the Americans with a little over a year – and four major championships in 2024 – to go before the teams are finalized.

World No. 2 Jon Rahm, the reigning Masters champion, also aims to begin his Olympic experience in Paris. He had to withdraw from the Tokyo Games, which were postponed until 2021 because of the pandemic, due to a positive COVID test of his own.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who currently stands second in the Olympic Rankings, was part of an unusual seven-man playoff for the bronze medal in Tokyo that was won by C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei. Entering the competition, McIlroy said he wasn’t sure of what to expect at the Olympics but playing for his country clearly impacted the 34-year-old.

“It makes me even more determined to go to Paris and try to pick one up,” McIlroy said after missing out on the bronze medal. “It's disappointing going away from here without any hardware, I've been saying all day I never tried so hard in my life to finish third.

“But it's been a great experience. Today was a great day to be up there in contention for a medal. It certainly had a different feeling to it than I expected, and yeah, as I said, I'm already looking forward to three years’ time and trying to go at least one better but hopefully three better.”

McIlroy acknowledged the Olympic spirit had “bitten him” in Tokyo, but he thinks he’ll have a better chance to come home with some hardware in Paris now that he’s been to an Olympics and knows what to expect.

“I would come in with a slightly different mindset of targeting a medal just instead of seeing how it goes and seeing what the experience is like,” the four-time major champion said. “But I would like to keep the sort of relaxed vibe and atmosphere that we have had within the team all week, because I think honestly, part of the reason I played well this week is because of that atmosphere that we have had.”

That’s the Olympic experience at its best.