Familiar faces will be representing Team Canada in the women’s Olympic golf tournament at Paris 2024, as the duo of Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp return for a third Games together.
Henderson, of Smiths Falls, Ont., and Sharp, hailing from Hamilton, Ont., first represented Canada at Rio 2016, which featured the first women’s Olympic golf tournament since 1900. Henderson finished T7, which stands as Canada’s best Olympic golf result since the sport’s return to the Olympic program.
The pair returned to represent Canada at Tokyo 2020 where Henderson finished T29 while Sharp finished 49th.
Henderson has 13 career LPGA titles, winning at least once in eight of her 10 full seasons on the LPGA Tour. She has been Canada’s winningest professional golfer, male or female, since earning her ninth career victory in 2019. She became Canada’s only multiple-time major champion with her victory at the 2022 Evian Championship, which followed her triumph at the 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
The 26-year-old began the 2024 season with five top-10 finishes in her first eight starts, including three third-place finishes at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, the HSBC Women’s World Championship, and the Chevron Championship.
“Any time you can go and represent your country it’s a very proud moment,” said Henderson. “To be able to wear the maple leaf and go to Paris is really exciting for me.”
Sharp, 43, has been playing professionally on the LPGA Tour since 2005, recording 16 career top-10 results, most recently at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in July 2023. A few months later, she won bronze for Team Canada at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. Sharp made 14 cuts in 14 starts on the Epson Tour in 2023 and posted five top-10 results, including a win at the Champions Fore Change Invitational. She also won the ORORO PGA of Canada Women’s Championship in 2023.
“Reaching the Olympics for a third time was a huge goal of mine coming into this year and I am extremely proud to have achieved it, said Sharp. “Representing Canada is the highest honour I’ve had in my career.”
Henderson currently sits 14th in the Rolex Women’s Golf World Rankings, while Sharp is Canada’s number two woman at 292nd.
The men’s and women’s golf tournaments at Paris 2024 will each feature a field of 60 athletes. A country can enter up to four athletes per tournament, provided all four are in the top 15 of the Olympic Golf Ranking. Otherwise, there is a maximum of two athletes per country of each gender.
The entrants in the women’s Olympic tournament were determined by the rankings on June 24, immediately following the Women’s PGA Championship, the third of the five women’s majors on the calendar. Nick Taylor and Corey Conners were the two male golfers announced to the Paris 2024 Canadian Olympic Team following the close of the men’s rankings on June 17.
The men’s golf tournament will take place first from August 1-4 at Le Golf National, before the women’s tournament takes place August 7-10.
More than a century ago, George Lyon won Canada’s only Olympic golf medal when he won gold in the match play tournament at St. Louis 1904.
Team Canada Women’s Golf Athletes at Paris 2024
Brooke Henderson (Smith Falls, Ont.)
Alena Sharp (Hamilton, Ont.)