The U.S. Open will draw most of the fanfare in golf during June, but the end of the event will also mark a critical moment in the Olympic golf calendar.
The 60-player field for the 2024 Olympics will be set the Monday following the U.S. Open.
The United States is expected to have four players participate in the event, as Americans dominate the top 15 of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Wyndham Clark seem locked into positions that would guarantee them a spot with the team, but the fourth one could change hands during the U.S. Open.
Meanwhile, other countries will be hoping just to qualify two players for the Olympics to take aim at a gold medal.
Here’s a look at how qualifying works for Olympic golf and who presently comprises the 60-player men’s field.
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How to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in golf
A total of 120 golfers will participate in the 2024 Olympics — 60 in the men’s competition and 60 in the women’s. That’s the same number each had during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics — and countries will be limited to a maximum of four golfers in each field.
Two spots — one in the men’s field and one in the women’s — will be set aside for France, which is hosting the Olympic Games.
The Olympics uses the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) to help select the rest of its participants.
The top 15 players in the OWGR automatically qualify for the Olympics, though a maximum of four golfers per country can be selected from that group. For example, the United States has nine golfers currently in the top 15 of the OWGR, but the country will only take the four highest-ranking members of that group.
After selecting participants from the top 15, the Olympic committee looks at the golfers outside the top 15. Up to two players per country can be selected from this group — provided the country represented does not already have two or more golfers chosen for a squad.
For example, Tommy Fleetwood is presently inside the top 15 of the OWGR, so England will only be able to take one additional player with it to Paris. That would presently be 16th-ranked Matt Fitzpatrick while 20th-ranked Tyrrell Hatton would miss out.
That process can get a bit confusing, but the easiest way to remember this is that only the countries with three-plus golfers in the top 15 will be able to take more than two participants to Paris. As a result, the United States seems likely to be the only team with four golfers competing in the 60-person fields.
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Current Olympic golf rankings
Below is what the Olympic Golf Rankings (OGR) looked like ahead of the U.S. Open. That will be the final PGA Tour event before the field of 60 participants is decided.
OGR rank | OWGR | Golfer | Country |
1 | 1 | Scottie Scheffler | United States |
2 | 2 | Xander Schauffele | United States |
3 | 3 | Rory McIlroy | Ireland |
4 | 4 | Wyndham Clark | United States |
5 | 5 | Viktor Hovland | Norway |
6 | 6 | Ludvig Åberg | Sweden |
7 | 7 | Collin Morikawa | United States |
8 | 8 | Jon Rahm | Spain |
9 | 13 | Tommy Fleetwood | England |
10 | 14 | Matsuyama Hideki | Japan |
11 | 16 | Matt Fitzpatrick | England |
12 | 18 | Sepp Straka | Austria |
13 | 21 | Jason Day | Australia |
14 | 22 | Kim Joo-hyung (Tom Kim) | South Korea |
15 | 23 | An Byeonghun | South Korea |
16 | 24 | Matthieu Pavon | France |
17 | 32 | Nick Taylor | Canada |
18 | 33 | Shane Lowry | Ireland |
19 | 35 | Adam Hadwin | Canada |
20 | 36 | Min Woo Lee | Australia |
21 | 40 | Christiaan Bezuidenhout | South Africa |
22 | 42 | Nicolai Højgaard | Denmark |
23 | 44 | Stephan Jäger | Germany |
24 | 52 | Alex Noren | Sweden |
25 | 55 | Thomas Detry | Belgium |
26 | 56 | Emiliano Grillo | Argentina |
27 | 60 | Ryan Fox | New Zealand |
28 | 67 | Erik van Rooyen | South Africa |
29 | 71 | Adrian Meronk | Poland |
30 | 78 | Victor Perez | France |
31 | 81 | Thorbjørn Olesen | Denmark |
32 | 83 | Nakajima Keita | Japan |
33 | 98 | Joaquín Niemann | Chile |
34 | 99 | Sami Valimaki | Finland |
35 | 100 | Alejandro Tosti | Argentina |
36 | 110 | Kevin Yu | Chinese Taipei |
37 | 116 | Jorge Campillo | Spain |
38 | 131 | Matti Schmid | Germany |
39 | 136 | C.T. Pan | Chinese Taipei |
40 | 143 | Joost Luiten | Netherlands |
41 | 153 | Carl Yuan | China |
42 | 175 | Camilo Villegas | Colombia |
43 | 178 | Matteo Manassero | Italy |
44 | 185 | Adrien Dumont de Chassart | Belgium |
45 | 189 | Daniel Hillier | New Zealand |
46 | 194 | Guido Migliozzi | Italy |
47 | 196 | Cristóbal Del Solar | Chile |
48 | 222 | Shubshankar Sharma | India |
49 | 225 | Rafael Campos | Puerto Rico |
50 | 234 | Darius van Driel | Netherlands |
51 | 237 | Carlos Ortiz | Mexico |
52 | 240 | Kiradech Aphibarnrat | Thailand |
53 | 254 | Gavin Green | Malaysia |
54 | 256 | Gaganjeet Bhullar | India |
55 | 279 | Phachara Khongwatmai | Thailand |
56 | 290 | Nico Echevarría | Colombia |
57 | 303 | Abraham Ancer | Mexico |
58 | 305 | Kris Ventura | Norway |
59 | 326 | Dou Zecheng | China |
60 | 328 | Fabrizio Zanotti | Paraguay |
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Tracking the Olympic golf teams by country
Here is a country-by-country look at the 60 participants in the men’s field for golf at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Argentina (2)
- Emiliano Grillo
- Alejandro Tosti
Australia (2)
Austria (1)
Belgium (2)
- Thomas Detry
- Adrien Dumont du Chassart
Canada (2)
Chile (2)
- Cristobel Del Solar
- Joaquin Niemann
China (2)
Chinese Taipei (2)
Colombia (2)
- Nico Echevarria
- Camillo Villegas
Denmark (2)
- Nicolai Hojgaard
- Thorbjorn Olesen
England (2)
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Tommy Fleetwood
Finland (1)
France (2)
- Matthieu Pavon
- Victor Perez
Germany (2)
- Stephan Jaeger
- Matti Schmid
India (2)
- Gaganjeet Bhullar
- Shubshankar Sharma
Ireland (2)
Italy (2)
- Matteo Manassero
- Guide Migliozzi
Japan (2)
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Keita Nakajima
Malaysia (1)
Mexico (2)
- Abraham Ancer
- Carlos Ortiz
Netherlands (2)
- Darius van Driel
- Joost Luiten
New Zealand (2)
Norway (2)
- Viktor Hovland
- Kris Ventura
Paraguay (1)
Poland (1)
Puerto Rico (1)
South Africa (2)
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout
- Erik Van Rooyen
South Korea (2)
Spain (2)
Sweden (2)
Thailand (2)
- Kiradech Aphibarnrat
- Phachara Khongwatmai
United States (4)
- Wyndham Clark
- Collin Morikawa
- Xander Schauffele
- Scottie Scheffler