Golf at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's individual

The men's individual golf event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 29 July to 1 August 2021 at the Kasumigaseki Country Club.[1] 60 golfers from 35 nations competed in the event, which was won by Xander Schauffele of the United States.[2]

Men's golf
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Golf course at Kasumigaseki Country Club
VenueKasumigaseki Country Club
Dates29 July – 1 August 2021
Competitors60 from 35 nations
Winning score266 (−18)
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Xander Schauffele  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Rory Sabbatini  Slovakia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Pan Cheng-tsung  Chinese Taipei
← 2016
2024 →

Background

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The first Olympic golf tournaments took place at the second modern Games in Paris 1900. Men's and women's events were held. Golf was featured again at the next Games, St. Louis 1904 with men's events (an individual tournament as well as a team event). The 1908 Games in London were also supposed to have a golf competition, but a dispute led to a boycott by all of the host nation's golfers, leaving only a single international competitor and resulting in the cancellation of the event. Golf would disappear from the Olympic programme from then until returning to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[3]

Qualification

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Each country could qualify from one to four golfers based on the World Rankings of 21 June 2021. The top 60 golfers, subject to limits per nation and guarantees for the host and continental representation, were selected. A nation could have three or four golfers if they are all in the top 15 of the rankings; otherwise, each nation was limited to two golfers. One spot was guaranteed for the host nation Japan and five spots were guaranteed to ensure that each Olympic continent has at least one representative.

Competition format

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Following the format used when golf was returned to the Olympic programme in 2016, the tournament is a four-round stroke play tournament, with the lowest score over the total 72 holes winning.

Schedule

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As with most major stroke play tournaments, the event is held over four days (Thursday through Sunday) with each golfer playing one round (18 holes) per day.[1]

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

Date Time Round
Thursday, 29 July 2021 7:30 First round
Friday, 30 July 2021 7:30 Second round
Saturday, 31 July 2021 9:30 Third round
Sunday, 1 August 2021 7:30 Final round

Results

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First round

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Thursday, 29 July 2021

Austria's Sepp Straka birdied three consecutive holes on his back-nine and finished with a bogey-free round of 63 (−8) to take the first-round lead. A shot behind was Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand, who also did not make a bogey in a seven-under round of 64. Belgium's Thomas Pieters holed out from the fairway for eagle on the par-four 11th hole and shot 65, tied with Carlos Ortiz in third place and two shots behind.[4][5]

Reigning Open champion Collin Morikawa, at World No. 3 the highest-ranked player in the field, opened with 69 (−2). Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama was four-under on his round through eight holes but made two bogeys to fall back to two-under.[6][7]

Rank Player Nation Score To par
1 Sepp Straka   Austria 63 −8
2 Jazz Janewattananond   Thailand 64 −7
T3 Carlos Ortiz   Mexico 65 −6
Thomas Pieters   Belgium
T5 Joachim B. Hansen   Denmark 66 −5
Juvic Pagunsan   Philippines
Jhonattan Vegas   Venezuela
T8 Paul Casey   Great Britain 67 −4
Anirban Lahiri   India
Sebastián Muñoz   Colombia
Alex Norén   Sweden

Second round

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Friday, 30 July 2021
Saturday, 31 July 2021

Thunderstorms caused delays in play and 16 players did not complete the second round on Friday. American Xander Schauffele was the overnight leader after shooting an 8-under-par 63. He held a one stroke lead over Carlos Ortiz of Mexico.[8]

Rank Player Nation Score To par
1 Xander Schauffele   United States 68-63=131 −11
2 Carlos Ortiz   Mexico 65-67=132 −10
3 Hideki Matsuyama   Japan 69-64=133 −9
T4 Alex Norén   Sweden 67-67=134 −8
Mito Pereira   Chile 69-65=134
Sepp Straka   Austria 63-71=134
T7 Paul Casey   Great Britain 67-68=135 −7
Jazz Janewattananond   Thailand 64-71=135
Shane Lowry   Ireland 70-65=135
Rory McIlroy   Ireland 69-66=135

Third round

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Saturday, 31 July 2021

Rank Player Nation Score To par
1 Xander Schauffele   United States 68-63-68=199 −14
2 Hideki Matsuyama   Japan 69-64-67=200 −13
T3 Paul Casey   Great Britain 67-68-66=201 −12
Carlos Ortiz   Mexico 65-67-69=201
T5 Rory McIlroy   Ireland 69-66-67=202 −11
Sebastián Muñoz   Colombia 67-69-66=202
Mito Pereira   Chile 69-65-68=202
Sepp Straka   Austria 63-71-68=202
T9 Tommy Fleetwood   Great Britain 70-69-64=203 −10
Shane Lowry   Ireland 70-65-68=203

Final round

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Sunday, 1 August 2021

Pan Cheng-tsung won the bronze medal after a seven-man sudden death playoff after Collin Morikawa was eliminated by par on the fourth extra hole. Rory McIlroy, Sebastián Muñoz, and Mito Pereira were all eliminated by birdie on the third extra hole, and Paul Casey and Hideki Matsuyama were both eliminated by par on the first extra hole.[9][10]

Rank Player Nation Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Total To par
  Xander Schauffele   United States 68 63 68 67 266 −18
  Rory Sabbatini   Slovakia 69 67 70 61 267 −17
  Pan Cheng-tsung   Chinese Taipei 74 66 66 63 269 −15
T4 Paul Casey   Great Britain 67 68 66 68
Hideki Matsuyama   Japan 69 64 67 69
Rory McIlroy   Ireland 69 66 67 67
Collin Morikawa   United States 69 70 67 63
Sebastián Muñoz   Colombia 67 69 66 67
Mito Pereira   Chile 69 65 68 67
T10 Joaquín Niemann   Chile 70 69 66 65 270 −14
Cameron Smith   Australia 71 67 66 66
Sepp Straka   Austria 63 71 68 68
13 Corey Conners   Canada 69 71 66 65 271 −13
T14 Abraham Ancer   Mexico 69 69 66 68 272 −12
Viktor Hovland   Norway 68 69 71 64
T16 Christiaan Bezuidenhout   South Africa 68 70 68 67 273 −11
Tommy Fleetwood   Great Britain 70 69 64 70
Alex Norén   Sweden 67 67 72 67
Thomas Pieters   Belgium 65 76 64 68
Jhonattan Vegas   Venezuela 66 70 70 67
Scott Vincent   Zimbabwe 73 67 66 67
T22 Thomas Detry   Belgium 70 67 68 69 274 −10
Im Sung-jae   South Korea 70 73 63 68
Shane Lowry   Ireland 70 65 68 71
Patrick Reed   United States 68 71 70 65
Justin Thomas   United States 71 70 68 65
T27 Joachim B. Hansen   Denmark 66 73 67 69 275 −9
Jazz Janewattananond   Thailand 64 71 72 68
Renato Paratore   Italy 71 70 67 67
Matthias Schwab   Austria 69 69 70 67
Sami Välimäki   Finland 70 70 68 67
T32 Kim Si-woo   South Korea 68 71 70 67 276 −8
Guido Migliozzi   Italy 71 65 68 72
Wu Ashun   China 72 71 67 66
T35 Romain Langasque   France 69 70 69 69 277 −7
Hurly Long   Germany 70 70 70 67
Fabrizio Zanotti   Paraguay 73 67 68 69
T38 Adri Arnaus   Spain 68 69 74 67 278 −6
Rasmus Højgaard   Denmark 73 68 66 71
Rikuya Hoshino   Japan 71 68 73 66
Yuan Yechun   China 69 68 70 71
T42 Ryan Fox   New Zealand 70 72 73 64 279 −5
Anirban Lahiri   India 67 72 68 72
Carlos Ortiz   Mexico 65 67 69 78
T45 Gunn Charoenkul   Thailand 71 71 71 67 280 −4
Maximilian Kieffer   Germany 73 69 67 71
Henrik Norlander   Sweden 68 73 72 67
Antoine Rozner   France 68 69 73 70
Kalle Samooja   Finland 75 68 70 67
50 Mackenzie Hughes   Canada 69 72 65 75 281 −3
T51 Marc Leishman   Australia 70 71 72 69 282 −2
Adrian Meronk   Poland 72 71 69 70
T53 Garrick Higgo   South Africa 71 71 70 72 284 E
Kristian Krogh Johannessen   Norway 72 70 71 71
55 Juvic Pagunsan   Philippines 66 73 76 70 285 +1
56 Udayan Mane   India 76 69 70 72 287 +3
T57 Rafael Campos   Puerto Rico 73 73 70 72 288 +4
Gavin Green   Malaysia 74 72 70 72
59 Jorge Campillo   Spain 70 75 69 75 289 +5
60 Ondřej Lieser   Czech Republic 72 77 73 72 294 +10

The medals for the competition were presented by Sir Craig Reedie, United Kingdom; IOC Member, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Jay Monahan, United States; IGF Chairman.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Golf Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Tokyo Olympics: Xander Schauffele wins gold on dramatic final day". BBC Sport. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Individual, Men (2016)". Olympedia. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  4. ^ Hoggard, Rex (29 July 2021). "Special day for Straka bros made sweeter by Sepp's Olympics-leading 63". Golf Channel. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  5. ^ Schmitt, Tim (29 July 2021). "5 Olympics golf storylines you missed overnight: A weather delay, Sepp Straka shines and a hatless Rory McIlroy". Golfweek. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  6. ^ Martin, Sean (29 July 2021). "'If I say there's no pressure, I'll be lying': Hideki Matsuyama's gold medal quest gets off to slow start". PGA Tour. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  7. ^ Bumbaca, Chris (29 July 2021). "Former Georgia Bulldog, Sepp Straka, representing Austria, leads men's golf; Americans unimpressive after Round 1". USA Today. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Xander Schauffele has big finish and 1-shot lead in Olympic golf". ESPN. Associated Press. 30 July 2021.
  9. ^ "American Xander Schauffele wins Olympic men's golf tournament, fulfilling his father's dream". USA Today. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  10. ^ "USA's Xander Schauffele holds on to capture Olympic men's golf title". The Guardian. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
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