The US’ Bubba Watson and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson are to head an Olympic men’s golf field that has been decimated by withdrawals, but nonetheless still includes a decent list of world-class players.
On the women’s side, an almost full-strength lineup is to include world No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand and No. 2 Brooke Henderson of Canada.
The Olympic qualification period for Rio, based on the world rankings, ended on Sunday and the International Golf Federation (IGF) subsequently submitted the 60 male and 60 female qualifiers to their various national Olympic bodies for official ratification.
The official teams are to be announced on Monday next week. Few if any changes are expected.
Recent publicity has focused on the ever-growing list of men who have ruled themselves out, including the top four in the world rankings: Australia’s Jason Day; the US’ Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth; and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy.
Most of the players who withdrew cited concerns over Zika, a mosquito-borne virus that the WHO says is spreading rapidly in the Americas.
“There is no doubt the number of withdrawals hasn’t shed golf in the best light, but we do understand why these individual decisions have been taken,” IGF president Peter Dawson said on Monday.
The Rio Games field is still to include eight of the top 15 men in the world, headed by No. 5 Watson and No. 6 Stenson, with Masters champion Danny Willett (Britain) and perennial major contender Sergio Garcia (Spain) also taking part.
Under the qualification rules, the US men’s team will have four representatives, because all are ranked in the top 15 in the world, while no other nation will have more than two.
The women’s field is to be headed by a powerful four-pronged South Korea team of Inbee Park, Kim Sei-young, Chun In-gee and Amy Yang.
One woman missing from Rio is to be 41-year-old Karrie Webb, a former world No. 1 who extended her playing career in an effort to achieve her dream of competing in the Olympics.
However, she was edged from the two-woman Australia team by a pair of 20-year-olds, Minjee Lee and Su Oh.
Men’s Olympic golf is to be held on Aug. 11-14, with the women playing on Aug. 18-21.
Both events are to be played on the Reserva de Marapendi course, following a 72-hole stroke play format.
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