Rory McIlroy insisted the men’s Olympic golf field at Paris 2024 is A-OK after questions regarding the validity of the qualifying system arose due to certain LIV players not being involved.
It was decided long before Paris 2024 began that the Olympic golf events would only include 60 players and a maximum of four golfers per nation would be eligible to compete.
After that, a maximum of two competitors per nation outside of the world’s top-15 could qualify, so long as that country does not already have at least two players inside the top-15.
Once qualifying ended last month, the US men’s team filled their four-man quota – leaving World No.8 Patrick Cantlay and World No.9 Bryson DeChambeau as two of several huge names who would be watching from home while others from outside of the top-300 began to prepare for four days at Le Golf National.
After missing out, Dechambeau called it “a sad feeling” and admitted it was “frustrating and disappointing,” although he does understand the current situation and hopes LA 2028 will be “different” for LIV players – seven of whom are in the field this time.
World No.9 Bryson DeChambeau did not qualify for the Olympics in Paris
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Despite the field in both the men’s and women’s golf events only being 60 players, it will still be a high-quality line-up with eight of the top-10 male golfers in action while 13 of the best 15 female players will tee it up next week.
Nevertheless, questions have been posed over whether the missing golfers at the upper end of the world rankings should have been included anyway and if the Olympic ranking system is fit for purpose.
While Jon Rahm believes each individual nation should be allowed to choose who represents them at the Olympics, McIlroy and Team Ireland partner Shane Lowry stated that the qualifying process is perfectly adequate and sometimes good players will have to miss out due to the competitiveness of their nation’s pool of talent.
One reporter asked the pair if DeChambeau’s absence in particular is particularly strange – given he is now the World No.9 and a recent Major champion.
The Irish pair responded by pointing out that other elite American men were also omitted and a change in tour has not done the likes of DeChambeau any favors due to LIV’s inability to secure world-ranking points.
Lowry said: “No.[8] in the world is not here, either, for the Americans [Patrick Cantlay]. The American Team is a hard team to make.”
Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy speak ahead of the Paris 2024 men’s golf event
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McIlroy – who is competing for Ireland at the Olympics – added: “Yeah, I think that’s the nature of qualification for the Olympics. I mean, you could have the fifth-best sprinter in the world but if he’s from a certain country, he’s not able to make it.
“So I think it’s just the way that the qualification works in the Olympic Games, and that’s not just in golf. That’s in other disciplines, as well.”
Lowry continued: “Like Rory said, you watch other sports, that’s the way it is. If you don’t run the time and don’t qualify, you’re not in. You watch the American nationals, it’s the biggest race of the year, the Jamaican nationals in the sprint. If they run a bad race, even though they might be one of the best in the world, they are not here competing.
“I know we are not used to that in golf; that the biggest events have the best fields. But you know, there are a few players maybe that would make it better, but it’s still the Olympics and we’ve all qualified to play for our country and we’re all here to win a medal.”
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LIV Golf has long been frustrated in its attempts to secure guaranteed spots at Major championships via the 54-hole league, and it was a similar story for players trying to make their respective Olympic teams.
But McIlroy argued that LIV golfers cannot be too upset with how the situation has played out as they knew the potential downsides of moving to the PIF-backed circuit when they signed in the first place.
The 26-time PGA Tour winner said: “I don’t think there’s any other way to do [Olympic qualification] because it’s hard to compare the golf that they play to the golf that we play. That’s the reason they didn’t get World Ranking points, right.
“So if you want to qualify for the Olympics, you knew what you had to do. Just like if you wanted to qualify for the Ryder Cup, you knew what you had to do. They were very aware of the decision they made when they did.”
The Olympic golf men’s tournament starts on Thursday, August 1 after the first and second-round tee times were released on Tuesday.
