Paris Olympics 2024: Xander Schauffele, Nelly Korda line up to defend gold medal at Summer Olympics

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Paris Olympics 2024: Xander Schauffele, Nelly Korda line up to defend gold medal at Summer Olympics

The PGA Tour and LPGA are in full swing with major championships and major events seemingly occurring every two weeks. Those aren’t the only tournaments players have circled on their calendars this year, however, as the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris are fast approaching and will be here before they know it.

There is less than a month left until the men’s game ends. The Olympic Golf Rankings – which are used to determine eligibility for the Olympics – come as the qualifying period ends at the US Open end. While the rankings sound unique, they are essentially copies of the Official World Golf Rankings.

Here’s how qualifying for the Olympics works:

The top 15 in OWGR qualify, but no more than four players from a given country can be selected.
In addition to the top 15, “players will qualify based on the world rankings, with a maximum of two players qualifying from each country that does not already have two or more players in the top 15.”

Xander Schauffele more or less retained his place in the US team with victory at the PGA Championship as the Olympic gold medalist jumped to second in the OWGR and prepared to join Scottie Scheffler in Paris. Since there are more than 4 men from the United States in the top 15 of OWGR, the red white and blue side will be represented by 4 players from the men’s side.

“That was just the cherry on top,” Schauffele said after earning his spot on the team with the PGA win. “It’s completely different from competing in the Olympics. It definitely helps the qualifying process. Obviously that’s my goal to qualify. Team USA is a strong team. It’s hard to qualify. I imagine this win could happen to guarantee me qualification for the Olympics. It’s a whole different ball game, winning that one but certainly can get it back. Gain confidence from this match.

The usual suspects secured spots in their respective countries with Rory McIlroy representing Ireland along with Shane Lowry and Jon Rahm representing Spain. Viktor Hovland is a sure thing for Norway, as Ludvig Åberg is for Sweden. Hideki Matsuyama will once again represent Japan, but there are still many countries, including the US, that do not have a solid lineup.

Men’s prospects for the 2024 Olympics

USA

Scottie Scheffler (No. 1)
Xander Schauffele (No. 2)
Wyndham Clark (No. 4)
Patrick Cantlay (No. 8)

Scheffler and Schauffele present a formidable duo and they will now be joined by Clark and Cantlay. However, this quartet could be short-lived as numbers 9-12 in the OWGR are filled by Americans with Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Brian Harman and Sahith Theegala all vying for that final spot .

England

Tommy Fleetwood (No. 13)
Matt Fitzpatrick (No. 15)

Unless Tyrell Hatton (No. 18) does something special at the US Open (as he did not receive points at LIV Golf), Fleetwood and Fitzpatrick should be the two men representing Great Britain.

Australia

Jason Day (No. 19)
Lee Min Woo (No. 38)

It’s a packed Australian team jostling for second place in the team. Lee currently leads with Adam Scott (No. 62), Ryan Fox (No. 63), Cameron Smith (No. 66) and Cameron Davis (No. 67) still with a chance to dethrone him next month. Smith and Marc Leishman represent Australia in Tokyo, meaning a new squad could be formed in Paris.

Korea

Byeong Hun An (No. 23)
Tom Kim (No. 26)

It’s a four-man race for two positions and it’s still very tight. Sungjae Im (No. 34) and Si Woo Kim (No. 42) represent South Korea in 2021 and they will have to work hard if they do it again.

Canada

Nick Taylor (No. 28)
Corey Conners (No. 50)

Taylor appears to be Canadian-bound, but the same cannot be said for Conners. His countrymen are hot on his heels with Adam Hadwin (No. 55), Taylor Pendrith (No. 61) and Mackenzie Hughes (No. 68) all still in contention with a month remaining.

Schauffele is not the only gold medalist who will defend at Le Golf National in Paris this summer; Nelly Korda will do the same. Winning her sixth tournament of the year last week at the Mizuho Americas Open, Korda continued to widen the gap between herself and the rest of the women’s group.

She was forced to make the trip to Paris and will be joined by world No. 2 Lilia Vu. Young phenom Rose Zhang rose to world number 6 with her latest win and has all but secured a spot on the US team which is currently being overtaken by world number 15 Megan Khang, but it is all possible changes when qualifying for the women’s golf tournament ends on June 24 following the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Women’s prospects for the 2024 Olympics

USA

Nelly Korda (No. 1)
Lilia Vu (No. 2)
Rose Zhang (No. 6)
Megan Khang (No. 15)

Similar to the men’s team, the final spot on the US roster will be very competitive. Alison Lee (No. 18), Allisen Corpuz (No. 21) and Angel Yin (No. 25) all still have a chance to break into the top 15 and book a trip to Paris.

Australia

Hannah Green (No. 5)
Minjee Lee (No. 9)

Green recently defended his title at the JM Eagle LA Championship to climb to the top position in Australia. Meanwhile, if both Lees (Min Woo and Minjee) maintain their current rankings, it means we will see a brother-sister duo at the Olympics representing their country.