Olympics

Olympic Golf 2021: Who’s in? Who’s out? Your Olympic golf questions answered

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Justin Rose of Great Britain celebrates with the gold medal, Henrik Stenson (L) of Sweden the silver, and Matt Kuchar of the United States with the bronze after the final round of men's golf competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Golf made a memorable return to the Olympics in 2016 after an 112-year absence and will be part of the Summer Games again this July in Tokyo—so long as there are a Summer Games this July in Tokyo. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the International Olympic Committee to postpone the entire 2020 Olympics to 2021, and while there will be limits on fan attendance and other player logistics, the IOC is preparing to move forward with the competition.

When it is played, both the men’s and women’s Olympic competitions will be 72-hole stroke-play tournaments held at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kasahata, Saitama, Japan, about 35 miles northwest of downtown Tokyo. As was the case in Rio, the field in both events will consist of 60 players representing their respective home countries.

But how were the Olympic fields be determined? The short answer is the same way they were supposed to be a year ago.

To help understand the Olympic qualification process, we’ve outlined the rules here. The same qualification rules apply for both the men’s and women’s Olympics fields. The top 15 players in the Olympic Golf Rankings (which essentially mirror the Official World Golf Ranking for men and the Rolex Rankings for women) are eligible for the Olympics up to a maximum of four golfers per country.

After the top 15, the field is filled until getting to 60 golfers by going down the Olympic Golf Ranking, with the top two ranked players qualifying from any country that does not have two or more players from the top 15. The host country, Japan, is also guaranteed at least two golfers in the field. If a player is eligible for a team but decides not to participate, the next eligible golfer from that country can take the spot from the player who has pulled out.

Here then is a country by country breakdown of the fields. The men’s qualifying period ended on June 21, the day after the U.S. Open. Women’s qualifying ended June 28, the day after the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The men’s competition will be held July 29-Aug. 1; the women’s Aug. 4-7.

MEN (World Ranking in parenthesis)

Australia
Cameron Smith (28)
Marc Leishman (43)

Austria
Matthias Schwab (118)
Sepp Straka (174)

Belgium
Thomas Detry (94)
Thomas Pieters (107)

Canada
Corey Conners (36)
Mackenzie Hughes (63)

Chile
Joaquin Niemann (31)
Mito Pereira (146)

China
Carl Yuan (291)
Ashun Wu (315)

Chinese Taipei
C.T. Pan (181)

Colombia
Sebastian Munoz (67)

Czech Republic
Ondrej Lieser (231)

Denmark
Rasmus Hojgaard (121)
Joachim B. Hansen (151)

Finland
Kalle Samooja (117)
Sami Valimaki (122)

France
Antoine Rozner (78)
Roman Langasque (186)

Germany
Maximilian Kieffer (193)
Hurly Long (263)

Great Britain
Paul Casey (20)
Tommy Fleetwood (33)

India
Anirban Lahiri (340)
Udayan Mane (356)

Ireland
Rory McIlroy (10)
Shane Lowry (42)

Italy
Guido Migliozzi (72)
Renatro Paratore (180)

Japan
Hideki Matsuyama (16)
Rikuya Hoshino (76)

Malaysia
Gavin Kyle Green (286)

Mexico
Abraham Ancer (23)
Carlos Ortiz (53)

New Zealand
Ryan Fox (178)

Norway
Viktor Hovland (14)
Kristian K. Johannessen (292)

Paraguay
Fabrizio Zanotti (280)

The Philippines
Juvic Pagunsan (216)

Poland
Adrian Meronk (189)

Puerto Rico
Rafael Campos (281)

Slovakia
Rory Sabbatini (167)

South Africa
Garrick Higgo (38)
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (46)

South Korea
Sungjae Im (26)
Si Woo Kim (49)

Spain
Adri Arnaus (147)
Note: Jon Rahm withdrew from the tournament after testing positive for COVID in his final test before traveling to Tokyo.

Sweden
Alex Noren (95)
Henrik Norlander (136)

Thailand
Jazz Janewattananond (129)
Gunn Charoenkul (259)

United States
Justin Thomas (3)
Collin Morikawa (4)
Xander Schauffele (5)
Patrick Reed (9)
Note: Reed replaced Bryson DeChambeau, who withdrew from the tournament after testing positive for COVID before traveling to Tokyo.

Venezuela
Jhonattan Vegas (130)

Zimbabwe
Scott Vincent (239)

• • •

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Silver medalist Lydia Ko of New Zealand, gold medalist Inbee Park of South Korea and bronze medalist Shanshan Feng of China pose by the Olympic rings after Women's Golf competition at the 2016 Rio games.

Scott Halleran

WOMEN (Rolex Rankings in parenthesis)

Argentina
Magdalena Simmermacher (399)

Australia
Minjee Lee (14)
Hannah Green (15)

Austria
Christine Wolf (288)

Belgium
Manon De Roey (278)

Canada
Brooke Henderson (5)
Alena Sharp (136)

China
Shanshan Feng (19)
Xiyu Lin (62)

Chinese Taipei
Wei-Ling Hsu (78)
Min Lee (130)

Colombia
Mariajo Uribe (306)

Czech Republic
Klara Spilkova (278)

Denmark
Nanna Koerstz Madsen (52)
Emily Kristine Pedersen (69)

Ecuador
Daniela Darquea (349)

Finland
Matilda Castrren (74)
Sanna Nuutinen (232)

France
Celine Boutier (58)
Perrine Delacour (101)

Germany
Sophia Popov (23)
Caroline Masson (68)

Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Melissa Reid (38)
Jodi Ewart Shadoff (86)

Hong Kong
Tiffany Chan (218)

India
Aditi Ashok (178)

Ireland
Leona Maguire (60)
Stephanie Meadow (122)

Italy
Giulia Molinaro (98)
Lucrezia Colombotto Rosso (405)

Japan
Nasa Hataoka (11)
Mone Inami (27)

Malaysia
Kelly Tan (154)

Mexico
Gaby Lopez (64)
Maria Fassi (180)

Morocco
Maha Haddioui (418)

The Netherlands
Anne van Dam (133)

New Zealand
Lydia Ko (10)

Norway
Marianna Skarpnord (265)
Tonje Daffinrud(419)

The Philippines
Yuka Saso (8)
Bianca Pagdanganan (165)

Puerto Rico
Maria Fernanda Torres (185)

Slovakia
Pia Babnik (301)

South Africa
Ashleigh Buhai (76)

South Korea
Jin Young Ko (2)
Inbee Park (3)
Sei Young Kim (4)
Hyo-Joo Kim (6)

Spain
Carlota Ciganda (32)
Azahara Munoz (84)

Switzerland
Albane Valenzuela (163)

Sweden
Anna Nordqvist (49)
Madelene Sagstrom (72)

Thailand
Patty Tavatanakit (12)
Ariya Jutanugarn (21)

United States
Nelly Korda (1)
Danielle Kang (5)
Lexi Thompson (9)
Jessica Korda (13)