After 112 long years away from the Olympics, golf returned in Rio in 2016 so this year in Paris will be the third event in its return to the Games.
It’s still ranked behind the Majors and the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup in terms of importance, but it’s becoming an increasingly big target for players to represent their countries in the pursuit of Olympic gold.
Justin Rose and Inbee Park won the first gold medals on golf’s Olympic return in Rio, while after winning in Tokyo last time out Xander Schauffele and Nelly Korda head to Paris as defending champions.
And after crowd numbers were limited in Brazil by Zika virus and then almost non existent in Tokyo during Covid, this Olympic golf event should be the best yet with full fans back involved at a Ryder Cup venue.
Here’s the main details for the 2024 Olympic golf event such as the schedule, medal dates, venue information, lowdown on the field and how you can watch the action unfold.
Olympic golf schedule and tee times
The men will kick-off the Olympic golf schedule with a usual Thursday-to-Sunday tournament, with a short gap before the women’s event starts the following Wednesday.
Tee times for every day of both the men and the women begin at 9am local time, that’s 3am Eastern Time in the United States and 8am BST in the UK.
| Thursday 1 August | First Round |
| Friday 2 August | Second Round |
| Saturday 3 August | Third Round |
| Sunday 4 August | Final Round |
| Wednesday 7 August | First Round |
| Thursday 8 August | Second Round |
| Friday 9 August | Third Round |
| Saturday 10 August | Final Round |
Olympic golf format
To the dismay of some, there’s just two 72-hole strokeplay events on show in Paris, with golf organisers decided against adding any team, mixed team or matchplay elements.
So the Olympic golf format will be a familiar one for regular golf fans with it being the same as most events on the regular tours – with just a limited field.
Many of the best players in the game will compete at each, with eight of the world’s top 10 men and a similarly top-class women’s field including World No.1s Korda and Scottie Scheffler.
Both the men’s and women’s fields consist of just 60 players rather than the usual 150+ for regular PGA Tour and LPGA Tour events, and that means there will be only 20 tee times each day, with players competing in groups of three. Because of the limited fields in each, there also won’t be a cut.
Who is in the field for the Olympic golf events?
There are 32 nations being represented by the 120 golfers in Paris this summer, with the world rankings determining the fields that were set in June.
Even though technically the world’s top 15 from men’s golf were eligible, because a maximum of four men are able to compete on any team, some US players have missed out even though there are nine from the US who are high enough in the rankings.
As a result, the top four of those have made the team – Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele, who won the gold medal in the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry representing Ireland will be among the favourites, with Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick playing for Team GB, Viktor Hovland for Norway, Jon Rahm for Spain and Ludvig Aberg for Sweden.
In the women’s field, Korda is joined on the US team by two-time Major winner Lila Vu and Rose Zhang.
The other team with three players, South Korea, will be represented by Jin Young Ko, Hyo Joo Kim and Amy Yang, who booked her place at the last minute thanks to her maiden Major title, which took her 15 places up the world rankings to fifth.
Celine Boutier will be the French hope alongside Perrine Delacour, while Charley Hull and Georgia Hall will play for Team GB.
MEN’S OLYMPICS GOLF FIELD
- Argentina – Emiliano Grillo, Alejandro Tosti
- Australia – Jason Day, Min Woo Lee
- Austria – Sepp Straka
- Belgium – Thomas Detry, Adrien Dumont du Chassart
- Canada – Corey Conners, Nick Taylor
- Chile – Cristobal Del Solar, Joaquin Niemann
- China – Zechang Dou, Carl Yuan
- Chinese Taipei – CT Pan, Kevin Yu
- Colombia – Nico Echevarria, Camillo Villages
- Denmark – Nicolai Hojgaard, Thorbjorn Olesen
- Finland – Sami Valimaki, Tapio Pulkkanen
- France – Matthieu Pavon, Victor Perez
- Germany – Stephan Jaeger, Matti Schmid
- Great Britain and Ireland – Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood
- India – Gaganjeet Bhullar, Shubshankar Sharma
- Ireland – Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy
- Italy – Matteo Manassero, Guido Migliozzi
- Japan – Hideki Matsuyama, Keita Nakajima
- Malaysia – Gavin Green
- Mexico – Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz
- New Zealand – Ryan Fox, Daniel Hillier
- Norway – Viktor Hovland, Kris Ventura
- Paraguay – Fabrizio Zanotti
- Poland – Adrian Meronk
- Puerto Rico – Rafael Campos
- South Africa – Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Erik Van Rooyen
- South Korea – Byeong Hun An, Tom Kim
- Spain – Jon Rahm, David Puig
- Sweden – Ludvig Aberg, Alex Noren
- Switzerland – Joel Girrbach
- Thailand – Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Phachara Khongwatmai
- United States – Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler
WOMEN’S OLYMPICS GOLF FIELD
- Australia – Hannah Green, Minjee Lee
- Austria – Emma Spitz
- Belgium – Manon De Roey
- Canada – Brooke Henderson, Alena Sharp
- China – Ruoning Yin, Xiyu Lin
- Chinese Taipei – Peiyun Chien, Wei-Ling Hsu
- Colombia – Mariajo Uribe
- Czech Republic – Klara Davidson Spilkova, Sara Kouskova
- Denmark – Emily Kristine Pedersen, Nanna Koerstz Madsen
- Finland – Ursala Wikstrom, Noora Komulainen
- France – Celine Boutier, Perrine Delacour
- Germany – Esther Henseleit, Alexandra Forsterling
- Great Britain and Ireland – Charley Hull, Georgia Hall
- India – Aditi Ashok, Diksha Dagar
- Ireland – Leona Maguire, Stephanie Meadow
- Italy – Alessandra Fanali
- Japan – Yuka Saso, Miyu Yamashita
- Malaysia – Ashley Lau
- Mexico – Gaby Lopez, Maria Fassi
- Netherlands – Anne van Dam, Dewi Weber
- New Zealand – Lydia Ko, Momoka Kobori
- Norway – Celine Borge, Madelene Stavnar
- Philippines – Bianca Pagdanganan, Dottie Ardina
- Scotland – Gemma Dryburgh
- Singapore – Shannon Tan
- Slovenia – Ana Belac
- South Africa – Ashleigh Buhai, Paula Reto
- South Korea – Jin Young Ko, Amy Yang, Hyo Joo Kim
- Spain – Carlota Ciganda, Azahara Munoz
- Sweden – Maja Stark, Linn Grant
- Switzerland – Albane Valenzuela, Morgane Metraux
- Thailand – Atthaya Thitikul, Patty Tavatanakit
- United States – Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu, Rose Zhang
Olympic golf venue – Le Golf National
The famed Le Golf National will forever be linked with the 2018 Ryder Cup when Thomas Bjorn’s Europe dismantled America in a comprehensive 17.5-10.5 home victory.
Also referred to as ‘Paris National’, the course is no stranger to hosting prestigious events it’s also in the spotlight annually for the oldest national open in continental Europe, the Open de France.
There are actually three courses at Le Golf National – two 18-hole courses and one nine-hole course, but the biggest tournaments, including the Olympics, are reserved for L’Albatros, a course designed by Hubert Chesneau and Robert Von Hagge, in consultation with Pierre Thevenin.
L’Albatros is regarded as one of the best courses in France, and one of the toughest, and is well known for the huge expanses of water throughout, as well as a relative lack of trees. Whoever wins the gold medal will have earned it.
How to watch Olympic golf on TV
There will be comprehensive Olympic golf coverage both in the United States and UK, so it should not be too hard to watch all the action at le Golf National.
In the USA:
The Olympic golf tournaments will be broadcast live on Golf Channel in the United States and be streamed on Peacock and NBC’s Olympic platforms and app.
Both the men’s and women’s tournaments will be broadcast live, with both starting at 3am Eastern Time and both concluding at around 12:30pm Eastern Time.
In the UK:
BBC Sport will be all over the Paris Olympics, with extensive daily TV coverage and also digital coverage on the iPlayer, website and app.
It’s also available on Discovery+ and on TV through subscription channel Eurosport.
