Golf in 2016 Olympics

abff

A recent discussion on the Shane Lowry thread got me thinking about the likely field for the golf tournament in the 2016 Olympics. There will be two events, men and women, with a field of 60 in each event.

Qualification will be based on world rankings as of 11 July 2016. The top 15 players of each gender will qualify, with a limit of four golfers per country that can qualify this way. The remaining spots will go the highest-ranked players from countries that do not already have two golfers qualified. The IGF has guaranteed that at least one golfer from the host nation and each geographical region (Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania) will qualify.

I had a look at the current world rankings to see who would qualify if the cut off point was now. The field would be as follows:

World Ranking Name
1 Adam Scott
2 Rory McIlroy
3 Henrik Stenson
4 Justin Rose
5 Sergio Garcia
6 Bubba Watson
7 Matt Kuchar
8 Jason Day
9 Tiger Woods
10 Jim Furyk
12 Martin Kaymer
16 Graeme McDowell
17 Hideki Matsuyama
21 Victor Dubuisson
22 Charl Schwartzel
24 Luke Donald
26 Thomas Bjorn
27 Miguel A Jimenez
33 Thongchai Jaidee
38 Graham Delaet
42 Francesco Molinari
45 Jonas Blixt
46 Joost Luiten
50 Mikko Ilonen
52 Angel Cabrera
54 Louis Oosthuizen
60 Koumei Oda
65 Matteo Manassero
70 Bernd Wiesberger
72 K.J. Choi
85 Brendon de Jonge
86 Anirban Lahiri
90 Kim Hyung-sung
93 David Hearn
94 Thorbjorn Olesen
100 Fabrizio Zanotti
107 Alexander Levy
111 Kiradech Aphibarnrat
131 Marcel Siem
134 Felipe Aguilar
158 Emiliano Grillo
164 Nicolas Colsaerts
165 Siddikur Rahman
169 Shiv Kapur
176 Carlos Ortiz
185 Robert-Jan Derksen
188 Liang Wen-chong
193 Wu Ashun
195 Vijay Singh
240 Camilo Villegas
252 Danny Lee
259 Tim Wilkinson
264 Chan Shih-chang
271 Antonio Lascuna
283 Adilson da Silva
284 Juvic Pagunsan
286 Jhonattan Vegas
287 Roope Kakko
290 Thomas Pieters
296 Ricardo Santos


There would be 39 countries represented in the above list, of which 18 would have two players competing and 1 (the US) would have four.

It's a reasonably strong field, with 24 of the top 50 and 36 of the top 100 in the world rankings. But an awful lot of the top names would be missing due to the restriction to no more than two golfers per country (unless in the top 15, in which case up to four golfers are allowed) and a lot of players outside the top 200 would qualify.

I'm not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing, but I wonder how others feel about this. Personally, I think three per country would be better (I think this is what applies in most other Olympic events), but I guess the idea is to get as many countries as possible participating and I imagine the qualifying criteria are set in stone at this stage.

paulos53

abff wrote: »

I had a look at the current world rankings to see who would qualify if the cut off point was now. The field would be as follows:

It will be simpler to check out this link in future weeks

http://www.igfgolf.org/olympic-games/ogr-men/

abff

Probably would be simpler, alright! Same 60 names, but in slightly different order. Not sure why the order is different, but maybe someone can explain?

ArmaniJeanss

abff wrote: »

Personally, I think three per country would be better (I think this is what applies in most other Olympic events), but I guess the idea is to get as many countries as possible participating and I imagine the qualifying criteria are set in stone at this stage.

Its a mix, 4 per country in some events, yet only one per country in some of the cycling disciplines and most of the 'fighting' events. (As an aside this has proved useful for Ireland in Boxing as if the Top 4 or 5 in a weight division have all been from Cuba or Russia (not an unknown occurence) then the fact that only one can participate has given us the chance to get medals which arguably are slightly underserved).

Re the Golf, I think no system can be perfect, they are probably close to the dual wish of a strong field whilst maintaining the olympian ideal of representatives from many countries. Would be beyond sick though if the World Number 5 misses out because those ahead are the same nationality.

I'm slightly more miffed that they are sticking to a basic 72 hole strokeplay. Surely there had to be scope for the addition of some interesting variants, a matchplay knockout doubles, or some sort of mixed (male and female) team events. Perhaps in the future if Rio is successful enough to convince the players/tours to give up two weekends instead of one.