2024 Paris Olympics: Xander Schauffele, Nelly Korda in line to defend gold medals at Summer Games

The PGA Tour and LPGA are in full swing, with major championships and major events seemingly every two weeks. However, these aren’t the only tournaments players have taken part in this year’s calendar, as the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris are fast approaching and will be here before they know it.

Less than a month separates the men’s game from finalizing the Olympic Golf Rankings – the rankings used to determine eligibility for the Olympics – as the qualifying period ends with the conclusion of the US Open. Although the rankings appear unique, they are essentially a copy of the Official World Golf Ranking.

See how qualifying for the Olympics works:

• The top 15 in the OWGR are eligible, but no more than four players can be selected from a given nation.
• Outside the top 15, “players will be eligible based on world rankings, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players in the top 15.”

Xander Schauffele more or less secured his place on Team USA with his win at the PGA Championship, as the Olympic gold medalist jumped to second place in the OWGR and is set to join Scottie Scheffler in Paris. Since there are more than four U.S. men in the OWGR top 15, the red, white and blue will be represented by four players on the men’s side.

“It’s just the icing on the cake,” Schauffele said after securing his spot on the team with the PGA victory. “It’s totally different than competing in the Olympics. It definitely helps with the qualification process. That was my goal, obviously, was to qualify. The U.S. team is strong. It’s hard to qualify. I imagine this win probably guarantees me qualifying for the Olympics. Olympics. It’s a totally different game, winning this game, but I’ll definitely be able to take some confidence from it.

The usual suspects secured places in their respective countries, with Rory McIlroy representing Ireland alongside Shane Lowry and Jon Rahm representing Spain. Viktor Hovland is a certainty for Norway, just as Ludvig Åberg is for Sweden. Hideki Matsuyama will once again represent Japan, but there are still many nations, including the USA, whose roster is far from solidified.

Men’s 2024 Olympics Outlook

U.S

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

Scheffler and Schauffele make a formidable duo, and from now on, Clark and Cantlay will join them. This quartet may be short-lived, however, as numbers 9 to 12 in the OWGR are filled by Americans with Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Brian Harman and Sahith Theegala all competing for the last spot.

Great Britain

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

Unless Tyrell Hatton (#18) does something special at the US Open (as he receives no LIV Golf points), Fleetwood and Fitzpatrick should be the two who represent Great Britain.

Australia

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

It’s a packed Australian contingent vying for second place in the team. Lee leads, as of now, with Adam Scott (No. 62), Ryan Fox (No. 63), Cameron Smith (No. 66) and Cameron Davis (No. 67) still with a chance to usurp him. the next month. Smith and Marc Leishman represented Australia in Tokyo, meaning a new team will likely be formed in Paris.

Republic of Korea

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

It’s a four-man race for two spots and it’s still up in the air. Sungjae Im (#34) and Si Woo Kim (#42) represented the Republic of Korea in 2021 and will have their work cut out for them if they do so again.

Canada

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

Taylor appears to be stuck with the Canadians, but the same can’t be said for Conners. Their compatriots are close behind with Adam Hadwin (No. 55), Taylor Pendrith (No. 61) and Mackenzie Hughes (No. 68) all still in contention with a month to go.

Schauffele isn’t the only gold medalist defending 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 continues to increase the gap between herself and the rest of the women’s field.

She is determined to take a trip to Paris and will be accompanied by world number 2, Lilia Vu. Young phenom Rose Zhang moved up to world No. 6 with her latest win and has all but secured her place on the US team that is currently completed by world No. 15 Megan Khang, but that could all change as the qualifying period for The women’s golf competition ends on June 24, following the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Women’s prospects for the 2024 Olympics

U.S

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

Similar to the men’s team, the final spot on the U.S. roster will be hotly contested. Alison Lee (No. 18), Allisen Corpuz (No. 21) and Angel Yin (No. 25) still have a chance to climb into the top 15 and book their trips to Paris.

Australia

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

Green just defended his title at the JM Eagle LA Championship to move up to the Australian No. 1 spot. Meanwhile, if both Lees (Min Woo and Minjee) maintain their current rankings, it means we will see a pair of brothers at the Olympics representing their country.

Republic of Korea

• Jin Young Ko (No. 6)
• Hyo-Joo Kim (No. 11)

China

• Ruoning Yin (No. 4)
• Xiyu Lin (No. 12)

Thailand

• Atthaya Thitikul (No. 14)
• Patty Tavatanakit (No. 23)