The 2024 Olympic Games starting Friday, July 26 through Sunday, Aug. 11, will once again feature golf — for just the fifth time in Olympic history. Golf was first introduced to the games in 1900, but the sport took over a century-long hiatus after the 1904 St. Louis Olympic Games. In 2016, golf triumphantly returned to the world’s biggest stage, and the sport now enters its third-straight Olympics.
There are 60 men’s golfers in the Olympic field, and the United States is the only country featuring four golfers — Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa. Every country receives a maximum of two representatives, but there is one exception. If a country has more than two golfers in the Official World Golf Rankings top 15, the country is allowed to send a maximum of four. The United States was the only country to meet this exception for the 2024 Olympic Games.
The four US representatives will compete at Le Golf National, most commonly known for hosting the 2018 Ryder Cup. Olympic golf competition is held similarly to any PGA Tour event, as an individual stroke play tournament consisting of 72 holes played over four days. Schauffele will look to defend his title after capturing the gold medal for the US in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Let’s look back at the college careers of the four US men’s golfers:
*All rankings as of June 17, 2024
Scottie Scheffler, Texas
The 28-year-old phenom has taken the golf world by storm in recent years, winning two of the past three Masters Tournaments and 11 PGA Tour events. The former Longhorn has been the OWGR number one since May of 2023, and he will certainly be the favorite to take home the gold in the Paris Games.
But before dominating the PGA Tour, Scheffler honed his game in Austin from 2014-2018. As a freshman, the Dallas, Texas native fired 21 rounds under par, the best on his team, and won two tournaments– the Western Intercollegiate and the 2015 Big 12 Championship.
Scheffler’s two wins freshman year would be the most in one season during his time at Texas. Scheffler went through a sophomore slump, with his highest finish at ninth in the 2016 Big 12 Championship, but he bounced back in his junior season. In the 2016-2017 season, Scheffler recorded six top-three finishes, including a win at the East Lake Cup. His junior season would mark his best finish in the NCAA Tournament, ending tied for third in the championship round.
The world number one would once again go winless in his senior season, but he fired 22 of his 34 rounds under par, giving golf fans a glimpse of his incredible consistency to come.
Xander Schauffele, San Diego State
The reigning Olympic golf gold medalist has been a staple on the PGA Tour since his debut in 2016 when he became the first PGA Tour rookie to win the Tour Championship. He most recently captured his first major championship, winning the 2024 PGA Championship in dramatic fashion, and he currently sits third in the OWGR.
Schauffele began his collegiate golf career at Long Beach State before transferring to San Diego State entering his sophomore season. During his sophomore campaign, Schauffele posted a 72.13 scoring average, which ranked second on the Aztecs and sixth in the Mountain West.
The 2016-2017 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year made a jump into his junior season, averaging 71.61 strokes per round, and recording his first win at the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic. He finished the 2013-2014 season with five top-five finishes and a team-leading 16 rounds below par.
In his final season as an Aztec, Schauffele once again made a jump, with a scoring average of 70.49 and eight top-five performances. He earned his second collegiate win at the Barona Collegiate Cup, where he fired a 17-under par 199 in the 54-hole event. He closed out his collegiate career with third-team All-America honors.
Wyndham Clark, Oregon
Clark is one of golf’s newest stars, bursting onto the scene in 2023 by winning the Wells Fargo Championship followed by the 2023 US Open. He ended 2022 ranked 163 in the OWGR, and he currently sits at fifth about halfway through the 2024 season.
The 30-year-old spent four years at Oklahoma State before transferring to Oregon for his redshirt senior season. As a redshirt freshman, Clark was named Big 12 Player of the Year, and put together a streak of seven straight finishes inside the top six. Clark slumped slightly in his sophomore season, but still made the NCAA Championship for the second consecutive year.
The Oregon graduate made a jump into his junior season, placing top-five seven times and tied for second four times. However, he failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in the 2015-2016 season. The following summer, Clark took his talents to Eugene, where he shined in his final collegiate season. Clark was ranked number one on Golfstat (college golf rankings), and he was named a 2017 Ben Hogan Award Finalist.
He closed out his collegiate career by winning the Pac-12 Championship and finishing second at the NCAA Baton Rouge Invitational.
Collin Morikawa, California
The youngest of the golfers on the list at 27, Morikawa is a two-time Major champion and sits seventh on the OWGR. The 2020 PGA Championship winner has six career wins on the PGA Tour, and is widely considered one of the best ball strikers in the game today.
Out of the four remarkable golfers on this list, Morikawa arguably has the most impressive resume in college. He earned three first-team All-America honors for the Golden Bears– the first Cal golfer to do so– and holds Cal’s all-time scoring average record.
The 2021 Open Championship winner made the NCAA Championships twice (2016 and 2019), finishing top-10 both times. During his junior season, Morikawa set the all-time NCAA single-season stroke average record at 68.68. Over his career at Cal, he won five events, had 22 top-five finishes and 35 top tens. He was seemingly always in contention, and he has carried this consistency onto the PGA Tour.
Morikawa, along with Schauffele, is making his second appearance in the Olympics, and he will look to find his way on the podium after finishing fourth in the Tokyo Games.