Olympics golf field is set — with 1 notable American missing
Team USA walks along the Olympic rings during the men's competition in 2021.
Getty Images
Golf fans who watched Bryson DeChambeau triumph at the U.S. Open over the weekend were once again made aware of his golfing brilliance. They were also made well aware that this is an Olympics year, with the NBC broadcast promoting the global athletics competition the network will also distribute to the world next month.
Coincidentally, DeChambeau’s conquest of Pinehurst No. 2 pushed him right up to the edge of qualifying for the Olympics, which will be held in Paris. But with the qualifying period wrapping up once DeChambeau tapped in for a winning par Sunday night, the American who won the United States Open will not be representing Team USA in the 33rd Olympiad. The reason: he hasn’t played enough 72-hole tournaments.
The United States will send four male golfers to France at the end of July — Scottie Scheffler (the best player in the world), Xander Schauffele (the defending Gold medal winner), Wyndham Clark (a first-time Olympian) and Collin Morikawa (who lost in a playoff for the Bronze medal in the 2020 Olympics). On the women’s side, there is one more week of qualifying, but Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang are already locked in to represent Team USA.
The qualification system for the Olympics directly mimics the Official World Golf Ranking, which is a reflection of the last two years of professional golf tournaments held around the globe. Countries are allowed a maximum of two golfers in the field, unless players are ranked in the top 15. For a golf-rich country like America, a maximum of four golfers can qualify, so long as they’re ranked in the top 15 of the OWGR. At the end of the U.S. Open, a stunning NINE Americans were ranked in the top 15, DeChambeau among them.
But ultimately he ranks sixth out of that group, narrowly falling behind Patrick Cantlay and the last man in, Morikawa. That’s where an ounce of controversy reigns.
DeChambeau plays the majority of his tournaments on LIV Golf, which hosts 54-hole events that do not qualify for OWGR points. Why LIV events don’t merit OWGR points has been an ongoing saga for the last two years, since the breakaway golf league launched. But essentially, every week DeChambeau tees it up on LIV Golf (this week included!) is an empty week in his OWGR ranking resume, whether he wins or finishes dead last. So despite DataGolf (which includes LIV tournaments) ranking him No. 6 in the world — and the fourth-best American — the OWGR ranks him 10th, behind five fellow Americans and outside the Olympics cut.
DeChambeau’s most loyal followers, enlivened by his recent form — which also included a solo 2nd-place finish at the PGA and a personal-best T6 at the Masters — want him in the Olympics. And DeChambeau wants in, too. But even he knows that rules are rules and his decision to join LIV put Olympic qualification in jeopardy.
Latest In News
