Golf at the Summer Olympics

Golf is officially recognized as firstly featuring in the Summer Olympic Games programme in 1900 and was also contested at the 1904 Summer Olympics. A golf tournament was to have been held in 1908, but it was cancelled less than two days before it was scheduled to start.[1] Two golf tournaments were also to have been held in 1920, but were cancelled due to a lack of entries.

Golf at the Summer Olympics
IOC CodeGLF
Governing bodyIGF
Events2 (men: 1; women: 1)
Summer Olympics
  • 1924
  • 1928
  • 1932
  • 1936
  • 1948
  • 1952
  • 1956
  • 1960
  • 1964
  • 1968
  • 1972
  • 1976
  • 1980
  • 1984
  • 1988
  • 1992
  • 1996
  • 2000

At the IOC session in Copenhagen in October 2009, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to reinstate the sport for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[2][3] The International Golf Federation is the governing body for golf at the Olympic Games. Qualification is based primarily upon the Official World Golf Ranking (men) and Women's World Golf Rankings, with the top 15 of each gender automatically qualifying (with a limit of four per country), and then the highest ranked players from countries that had not yet already qualified two players.[4][5][6][7]

Medal table

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Sources:[8]

Total

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RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  United States (USA)63514
2  Great Britain (GBR)1214
3  New Zealand (NZL)1113
4  Canada (CAN)1001
  South Korea (KOR)1001
6  Japan (JPN)0112
7  Germany (GER)0101
  Slovakia (SVK)0101
  Sweden (SWE)0101
10  China (CHN)0022
11  Chinese Taipei (TPE)0011
Totals (11 entries)10101131
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  United States (USA)42410
2  Great Britain (GBR)1214
3  Canada (CAN)1001
4  Slovakia (SVK)0101
  Sweden (SWE)0101
6  Chinese Taipei (TPE)0011
  Japan (JPN)0011
Totals (7 entries)66719

Women

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RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  United States (USA)2114
2  New Zealand (NZL)1113
3  South Korea (KOR)1001
4  Germany (GER)0101
  Japan (JPN)0101
6  China (CHN)0022
Totals (6 entries)44412

Events

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1900
1904
1908

A men's individual tournament was planned for the 1908 London Games, but a dispute amongst representatives of England and Scotland over the format led to British golfers boycotting, leaving 1904 gold medallist George Lyon of Canada as the only remaining entrant.[9] He was entitled to claim the gold medal but declined.[9]

1920

Two golf tournaments were planned at the 1920 Antwerp Games, but were cancelled due to a lack of entries.[10]

2016
2020
2024

Since its reintroduction, Olympic golf competitions have consisted of men's and women's individual stroke play. There has been calls for the IGF and the IOC to consider adding a match play tournament, a team tournament, and/or to open up the Olympic tournament to more golfers, possibly by using a different qualifying system than the World Golf Ranking.[12]

Courses

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Year Host city Course(s)
1900   Paris Compiègne Golf Club
1904   St. Louis Glen Echo Country Club, Normandy, Missouri
1908   London Royal St George's Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent
Prince's Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent
Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club, Deal, Kent
1920   Antwerp Cappelen's Golf Club, Antwerp
2016   Rio de Janeiro Olympic Golf Course, Barra da Tijuca
2020   Tokyo Kasumigaseki Country Club, Kawagoe
2024   Paris Le Golf National, Guyancourt
2028   Los Angeles Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California
2032   Brisbane Royal Queensland Golf Club, Eagle Farm, Queensland

Medal summary

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Men's individual

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  1. ^ A dispute amongst representatives of England and Scotland over the format led to British golfers boycotting, leaving 1904 gold medallist George Lyon of Canada as the only remaining entrant.[1] Olympic organisers offered to award Lyon the gold medal by default, but Lyon refused it.
  2. ^ Cancelled due to lack of entries.

Women's individual

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Men's team

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Participating nations

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22 golfers competed in 1900. The 1904 tournament featured 77 golfers. Albert Lambert was the only golfer who competed both times; a total of 98 different golfers competed throughout the brief history of Olympic golf before it was brought back in 2016.[citation needed]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Golf | Olympic competitions Abandoned". The People. 31 May 1908. p. 17. Retrieved 27 January 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Wilson, Stephen (13 August 2009). "Golf, rugby backed by IOC board for 2016 Games". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  3. ^ "Golf & rugby voted into Olympics". BBC Sport. 9 October 2009.
  4. ^ Harig, Bob (5 March 2014). "Olympic golf qualifying date set". ESPN.
  5. ^ "Olympic Games - Qualification System - IGF". International Golf Federation. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  6. ^ Axson, Scooby (14 July 2014). "Rules for golf qualifying in the 2016 Olympic Games: U.S. will only get four players no matter how many in Top 15". Golf Magazine.
  7. ^ "International Golf Federation". olympic.org. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  8. ^ "Olympic Analytics - Medals by Countries". olympanalyt.com. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  9. ^ a b Wallechinsky, David (1984). The Complete Book To The Olympics. England: Penguin Books. p. 428. ISBN 0140066322.
  10. ^ "Olympic Golf Abandoned". The New York Times. 4 July 1920. p. 19. Retrieved 18 February 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Golf". Rio2016.com. Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  12. ^ "Fixing Olympic Golf". Pro Golf Now. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
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