The qualifying period for women’s golf at the 2024 Olympics ends on June 24 following the conclusion of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, and the world’s best female golfers are working hard to secure their place in the 60-player field at Le Golf National.
The competition has intensified in recent weeks and while some athletes have played the course in France, others have been excluded from the top 60 in the Olympic golf rankings.
One of the most notable moves last week involved Japan, as 2022 Women’s Scottish Open champion Ayaka Furue leapfrogged six-time LPGA Tour winner Nasa Hataoka to claim second place in Japan’s rankings. Compatriot Yuka Saso virtually sealed her place in the field after winning this year’s US Women’s Open presented by Ally at Lancaster Country Club. The Paris Games will mark Sasso’s second Olympic appearance and the first for Japan.
Another big upset involved Finland, which now has two athletes ranked in the top 60 of the Olympic Golf Ranking. Daniela Darquea of ββEcuador was replaced by Finn Noora Komulainen in the field, while Finnish player Ursula Wikstrom took the place of Malaysian Natasha Andrea Oon at Le Golf National.
Oon, the 2023 Gaelle Truet Rookie on the Epson Tour, announced on May 13 that she has not competed this season on the LPGA Tour due to a lingering leg injury that continues to heal. The 2024 LPGA rookie would be in contention for her first Olympics if not for health challenges. The only Malaysian player eligible to play in the Olympics is Epson Tour’s Ashley Lau.
In the top 15, the United States remains the only country with three or more representatives, as Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang are currently ranked first, second and seventh, respectively. Australia, People’s Republic of China and Korea Republic have two players in the top 15, with Hannah Green and Minjee Lee currently representing the Aussies, Jin Young Ko and Hyo Joo Kim set to compete for Korea and Ruoning Yin and Xiyu. Lin plays for China in Paris.
The last chance for women to earn their spot in the field for Paris is next week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club. Canada’s Brooke Henderson, who has qualified for the Games, won the event in 2016 – the last time it was held in Sammamish, Washington. Yin will look to successfully defend her title in 2023, a major victory that marked the first for the now 21-year-old.
Adam Hadwin overtakes Corey Connors for Olympic spot with one week to go
Of all the players who competed in the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday last week, none helped their cause to make the 2024 Paris Olympics more than Canada’s Adam Hadwin. Hadwin, locked in a tight race with Corey Connors, Taylor Pendrith and Mackenzie Hughes to secure Canada’s second Olympic spot, finished third at the Memorial to climb into the top 40 of the Olympic Golf Ranking (OGR). .
The field for this year’s Olympic men’s event will be finalized on Monday, June 17, following the conclusion of the US Open. The OGR Top 60 will consist of up to four entrants per country within the top 15 rankings and up to two entrants per country overall within the top 60.
Hadwin is looking to represent Canada at the Olympics for the first time after compatriots David Hearn and Graham DeLaet represented Canada at the 2016 Olympics and Conners and Hughes won the same honor in 2021. Hadwin and other Canadians who will be competing the runner-up is likely to join Nick Taylor later this summer in Paris.
Elsewhere in the men’s OGR, Jorge Campillo edged past David Puig to claim Spain’s second allocated spot alongside Jon Rahm. However, with Puig at the US Open this week, he will have one last chance to overtake Campillo and reclaim second place. Campillo is currently No. 116 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), on which the OGR is based, just one spot ahead of Puig (No. 117).
Paraguayan Fabrizio Zanotti re-entered the OGR in the coveted last position (No. 60) and will look to hold onto that position for one more week. He is the only player in the projected field to represent Paraguay and the seventh overall from South America (with Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo and Alejandro Tosti, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann and Cristobal del Solar and Colombia’s Camilo Villegas and Nico Echavarria).
With one week and one major championship to go before the qualifying deadline, several players will be looking to make one last push to represent their country later this summer in Paris.