Olympics 2024: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy top men’s standings with 100 days to go
The Men’s Olympic Golf Competition kicks off exactly 100 days from now. Here are the updated standings and qualification criteria.
For only the third time within the last century, the Summer Olympics will feature a 72-hole stroke play for some of the best men’s and women’s players in the world.
Xander Schauffele won the Gold Medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, contested in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rory Sabbatini won the Silver, while Taipei’s C.T. Pan came in third, winning the Bronze. In Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Englishman Justin Rose won the Gold, Henrik Stenson took home the Silver, and Matt Kuchar won the Bronze.
This year’s Olympic Golf Competition will take place at Le Golf National, outside of Paris, where the Europeans trounced the Americans in the 2018 Ryder Cup.
The men’s tournament will kick off on Thursday, Aug. 1, exactly 100 days from this writing. As such, we want to highlight the qualification process, provide updated standings, and other essential tidbits related to Olympic Golf.
Olympic Golf Qualification
Only 60 players will tee it up in both the men’s and women’s Olympic Golf Competition, creating an aura not dissimilar to the Signature Events seen on the PGA Tour. Of those 60 players, 59 gain entry via the Olympic Golf Rankings, which relies on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR).
Each tournament has a strength of field rating for the Olympic Golf Rankings based on the quality of players within the field, like the OWGR. That determines the number of points awarded at an event, which are then allocated to the players based on where they finish. Better performances in stronger events lead to more points.
The host country always includes one player in the field, too, so this year, Matthieu Pavon will presumably represent France under that distinction.
A country can have as many as four players compete in the Olympics, as long as each of those four players falls within the top 15 of the Olympic Golf Rankings. Currently, this stipulation only applies to the United States.
Outside of the top 15, only two players per country can compete.
The International Golf Federation will finalize the field for the 2024 men’s Olympic Golf Competition on Monday, Jun. 17, the day after the U.S. Open concludes at Pinehurst No. 2.
Current Olympic Golf Ranking Standings
Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) listed in parentheses:
1. Scottie Scheffler — USA (1)
2. Rory McIlroy — Ireland (2)
3. Xander Schauffele — USA (3)
4. Jon Rahm — Spain (4)
5. Wyndham Clark — USA (5)
6. Viktor Hovland — Norway (6)
7. Ludvig Åberg — Sweden (7)
8. Patrick Cantlay — USA (8)
9. Tommy Fleetwood — Great Britain (11)
10. Matt Fitzpatrick — Great Britain (12)
11. Hideki Matsuyama — Japan (15)
12. Jason Day — Australia (21)
13. Matthieu Pavon — France (22)
14. Tom Kim — South Korea (23)
15. Nick Taylor — Canada (27)
For the United States, Max Homa (9), Brian Harman (10), Collin Morikawa (13), Cameron Young (14), and Sahith Theegala (15) can potentially slide past Patrick Cantlay (8) and grab the fourth and final spot among the Americans. The competition among these players will remain fierce through the major championship season.
Beyond the top 15, only two players per country can compete.
16. Sepp Straka — Austria (28)
17. Min Woo Lee — Australia (32)
18. Nicolai Højgaard — Denmark (34)
19. Shane Lowry — Ireland (37)
20. Byeong Hun An — South Korea (38)
21. Emiliano Grillo — Argentina (41)
22. Stephan Jaeger — Germany (43)
23. Adam Hadwin — Canada (49)
24. Ryan Fox — New Zealand (56)
25. Christiaan Bezuidenhout — South Africa (58)
26. Adrian Meronk — Poland (62)
27. Erik van Rooyen — South Africa (64)
28. Alex Noren — Sweden (67)
29. Thomas Detry — Belgium (68)
30. Thorbjørn Olesen — Denmark (72)
31. Keita Nakajima — Japan (75)
32. Joaquin Niemann — Chile (82)
33. Sami Valimaki — Finland (86)
34. Victor Perez — France (93)
35. Alejandro Tosti — Argentina (98)
36. David Puig — Spain (108)
37. Kevin Yu — Taipei (112)
38. Yannik Paul — Germany (123)
39. Carl Yuan — China (131)
40. C.T. Pan — Taipei (132)
41. Joost Luiten — Netherlands (135)
42. Camilo Villegas — Colombia (150)
43. Daniel Hillier — New Zealand (170)
44. Matteo Manassero — Italy (173)
45. Mito Pereira — Chile (181)
46. Shubhankar Sharma — India (190)
47. Adrien Dumont de Chassart — Belgium (196)
48. Gavin Green — Malaysia (203)
49. Darius Van Driel — Netherlands (215)
50. Carlos Ortiz — Mexico (216)
51. Abraham Ancer — Mexico (219)
52. Gagenjeet Bhullar — India (230)
53. Kiradech Aphibarnrat — Thailand (254)
54. Guido Migliozzi — Italy (255)
55. Phachara Khongwatmai — Thailand (268)
56. Fabrizio Zanotti — Paraguay (274)
57. Rafael Campos — Paraguay (289)
58. Zecheng Dou — China (304)
59. Nico Echavarria — Colombia (211)
60. Kalle Samooja — Finland (355)
Like the United States, a few other countries will have quite the competition on their hands:
Australia
Since Cameron Smith joined LIV Golf after the 2022 Tour Championship, his OWGR ranking has plummeted. He is 52nd in the OWGR, 20 spots below Min Woo Lee. But Smith has won a major championship before and certainly has the talent to win another at Valhalla and Pinehurst No. 2. Should he go on to do so—or at the very least contend—he may have to start preparing for Paris.
Canada
Plenty of national pride exists among the Canadian contingency this year, especially since Royal Montreal will host the Presidents Cup in September. But before that, Canada will send two players to the Olympics. Adam Hadwin (49) currently holds a slim lead over Corey Conners (50) in the OWGR, but Mackzenie Hughes (66) and Adam Svensson lurk not too far behind.
Denmark
At this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the young, dynamic duo of Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard will try and conquer the PGA Tour’s only team event. But we are not far away from seeing this set of twins tee it up in Paris. Rasmus (83) sits 11 spots behind Thorbjørrn Olesen, but a hot stretch for Højgaard—or a win in Louisiana—could change Olesen’s Olympic prospects.
Germany
Yannik Paul has had a solid few years on the DP World Tour and sits two spots above Matti Schmid (125) in the OWGR. Thanks to his win at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, Stephan Jaeger has all but secured one of Germany’s two spots, but the other one will come down to either Paul or Schmid. It’s a toss-up.
Italy
With his victory at the Jonsson Workwear Open in South Africa in March, Matteo Manassero (173) has all but locked up one spot for the Italian contingency. However, the other spot, like the case with Germany, is up for grabs between Guido Migliozzi (255) and Francesco Molinari (263), the latter having won the 2018 Open Championship.
Spain
Jon Rahm will represent Spain in Paris, but the other spot remains a mystery. David Puig (108) currently possesses the second spot, but Pablo Larrazabal (119), Jorge Campillo (121), and Adrian Otaegui (140) are not too far behind. Puig plays on LIV Golf, while the other three compete on the DP World Tour, where more opportunities to earn OWGR points present themselves. As such, it would surprise nobody if one of these three Spaniards jumped over Puig down the stretch.
South Korea
Byeong Hun An, who recently tied for 16th at The Masters, sits seven spots above Sungjae Im (45) in the OWGR. Si Woo Kim (48) is right there, too, so the South Koreans have quite the battle on their hands down the stretch. Should Im or Kim play well in the majors, or at the Wells Fargo Championship or the Memorial—the final two Signature Events before the Olympic Golf deadline—they could surpass An in the standings and join Tom Kim in representing South Korea in Paris.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.