There are just a few hours to go until the Opening Ceremony for Paris 2024.
This evening, 10,000 Olympic athletes will parade down six kilometres of the River Seine. 300,000 people are to line the river and 1.5 billion people around the world are expected to watch on television.
The men’s and women’s Olympic golf competitions will take place on the Albatros Course at Le Golf National (LGN) from August 1 to 10.
The men’s event will begin on Thursday, 1 August and run through Sunday, 4 August. The women’s competition will run from Wednesday, 7 August through Saturday, 10 August.
In total, 35 LET members will represent their countries in the greatest show on earth.
Ines Laklalech will be the flag bearer for Team Morocco at the Opening Ceremony.
LET rookie Shannon Tan is the first golfer from Singapore to qualify for the Games.
Aditi Ashok of India heads to Paris for her third Games. She was the youngest golf athlete at Rio 2016 (18 years old) and finished in 41st place with her father on the bag. At Tokyo 2020, she finished fourth, one spot outside a medal and only two shots from gold. She was in medal contention most of the final round with her mother serving as her caddie. Her success was highlighted by tweets from India’s President and Prime Minister.
LET members competing in their third consecutive Olympics are Aditi Ashok (India), Carlota Ciganda (Spain), Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Denmark), Leona Maguire (Ireland), Azahara Munoz (Spain), Klara Davidson Spilkova (Czech Republic), Mariajo Uribe (Colombia) and Albane Valenzuela (Switzerland).
Four mothers, all LET members, will compete in the women’s competition: Azahara Munoz (Spain), Mariajo Uribe (Colombia), Ursula Wikstrom (Finland) and Noora Komulainen (Finland).
Mariajo Uribe (Colombia) is set to retire from professional golf following her appearance in Paris; she finished T19 in Rio 2016 and T50 in Tokyo 2020.
Ursula Wikstrom of Finland is the oldest competitor, (44; born 3 July 1980), while Shannon Tan of Singapore is the youngest (20; born 9 April 2004).
Celine Boutier and Perrine Delacour will represent Team France in their home country.
Boutier said: “It’s definitely always an honour to represent your country. I think I try to represent week in and week out on the tour, but it’s something different when you have the flag on your shirt and hat. Almost feels like a team event because you feel like all the athletes are part of a team together and you’re representing the whole country. So, it’s something very special. Something I cherished a lot as an amateur. So having that opportunity again as a professional is very rare and don’t take for granted. Very excited to also showcase the French golf course, French athletes, and just the city in general for the Olympics. Hope everybody will be a great time.”
The other LET members in the field not already mentioned are Charley Hull (Great Britain), Jeeno Thitikul (Thailand), Maja Stark (Sweden), Linn Grant (Sweden), Georgia Hall (Great Britain), Ashleigh Buhai (South Africa), Esther Henseleit (Germany), Alexandra Försterling (Germany), Emily Kristine Pedersen (Denmark), Anne van Dam (Netherlands), Morgane Metraux (Switzerland), Manon De Roey (Belgium), Diksha Dagar (India), Emma Spitz (Austria), Celine Borge (Norway), Alessandra Fanali (Italy), Ana Belac (Slovenia), Sara Kouskoka (Czechia), Madelene Stavnar (Norway), Sarah Schober (Austria) and Pia Babnik (Slovenia).
There are six current and former women World No. 1s in the field: Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu, Jin Young Ko, Ruoning Yin, Atthaya Thitikul and Lydia Ko.
Rolex Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda (USA), who has six LPGA Tour wins in 2024 and tied the Tour record for wins in consecutive events (five), is set to defend her gold medal in her second Olympics.
Lydia Ko of New Zealand is the only two-time medallist in the history of Olympic golf and has the opportunity to earn a third consecutive medal at this year’s Games. Ko captured the silver medal at Rio 2016 as a 19-year-old and followed it by earning a bronze medal at Tokyo 2020 at 23. A gold medal would also give Ko the final point needed for induction into the LPGA Hall of Fame; she enters the Games with 26 points, one point shy of the 27 required.
Both the men’s and women’s competitions will have fields of 60 athletes and be held at the Albatros Course of Le Golf National (LGN). The men’s competition will be contested as a par-71 (7,174 yards/6,557 metres), while the women’s competition will be contested as a par-72 (6,374 yards/5,829 metres). The club is located in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, 41 km from the Olympic Village. Owned and managed by the French Golf Federation, the venue was conceived as a permanent home for the annual FedEx Open de France tournament and as a national training facility. Opened on 5 October 1990, the course was designed by Hubert Chesneau and Robert Von Hagge and renovated in 2016 by European Golf Design (EGD) under Hubert Chesneau’s supervision in preparation for the 2018 Ryder Cup.
Le Golf National was built to be a natural amphitheatre and each hole is surrounded by mounds and hills for perfect spectator viewing. There will be one main grandstand on Hole 18 with a seating capacity of 1,700. Paris 2024 has allotted 30,000 tickets per day and a sell-out is expected.
OLYMPIC GOLF HISTORY
2020: (Tokyo)
Men’s: Gold: Xander Schauffele (USA); Silver: Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia); Bronze: C.T. Pan (Chinese Taipei)
Women’s: Gold: Nelly Korda (USA); Silver: Mone Inami (Japan); Bronze: Lydia Ko (New Zealand)
2016 (Rio de Janeiro)
Men’s Gold: Justin Rose (Great Britain); Silver: Henrik Stenson (Sweden); Bronze: Matt Kuchar (USA)
Women’s: Gold: Inbee Park (Korea); Silver: Lydia Ko (New Zealand); Bronze: Shanshan Feng (China)
1904 (St. Louis)
Men’s: Gold: George Lyon (Canada); Silver: Chandler Egan (USA); Bronze: Burt McKinnie (USA) and Francis Newton (USA)
Women’s competition not held
1900 (Paris)
Men’s: Gold: Charles Sands (USA); Silver: Walter Rutherford (Great Britain); Bronze: David Robertson (Great Britain)
Women’s: Gold: Margaret Abbott (USA); Silver: Pauline Whittier (USA); Bronze: Daria Pratt (USA)
