Olympic Golf 2021 - Tokyo Preview

Olympic Golf Update 07/08/21: Women's Result

It was a nail biter in the end, but American world no.1 Nelly Korda finished best to claim the gold medal in the women’s Olympic tournament. She beat Japan’s Mone Inami and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko by a shot, with Inami winning the playoff for the silver medal.

Ko claimed the Tokyo bronze, after winning the silver medal in Rio. Korda made it a US double after Xander Schauffele won the men’s event and after shooting a stunning 62 in the second round, held the lead for almost three days.But she went into grind mode in the final round and withstood all challengers.

Playing the group in front of Korda, Inami took a share of the lead on the 17th hole after her ninth birdie of the day. But she found the front bunker on the 18th and made bogey from a plugged lie, relieving the pressure on Korda, who parred the final hole for the win.

WOMEN'S FINAL STANDINGS:

• GOLD - Nelly Korda (USA) -17
• SILVER - Mone Inami (JPN) -16
• BRONZE - Lydia Ko (NZ) -16
• 4. Aditi Ashok (IND) -15
• 5. Hannah Green (AUS) -13
• 5. Emily Pedersen (DEN) -13
• 7 Stephanie Meadow (IRL) -12
• 8. Shanshan Feng (CHI) -11

Australian results

• 5. Hannah Green (AUS) -13
• 29. Minjee Lee (AUS) -4

Olympic Golf Update 02/08/21: Men's Result

American world no.4 Xander Schauffele won the Tokyo Olympic gold medal at Kasumigaseki Country Club after an intense final nine holes, with Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini claiming the silver and Taiwan’s CT Pan the bronze.

Schauffele was in control for most of the final round until an errant drive on the 15th hole saw him take a drop and make bogey. A birdie on the 17th hole gave Schauffele a one-shot lead heading down the 18th but he was forced to lay up after driving into the thick rough off the tee. Schauffele hit a brilliant wedge from 70 yards to four feet and buried the par putt to claim the gold medal.

Former South African Sabbatini fired an Olympic record 61 in the fourth round to win silver for his adopted country of Slovakia, while CT Pan won a seven-man playoff for the bronze at the fourth extra hole.

MEN'S FINAL STANDINGS

• GOLD - Xander Schauffele (USA) -18
• SILVER - Rory Sabbatini (SVK) -17
• BRONZE - CT Pan (TPE) -15
• 4. Collin Morikawa (USA) -15
• 5. Mito Pereira (CHL) -15
• 6. Rory McIlroy (IRL) -15
• 7. Sebastian Munoz (COL) -15
• 8. Paul Casey (GBR) -15
• 9. Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) -15

Australian Results:

• 10. Cameron Smith (AU) -14
• 51. Marc Leishman (AU) -2

It’s been five years since golf returned to the Olympic games in Rio after a 112-year absence and the medals will be up for grabs again in Tokyo.

Kasumigaseki Country Club will host the Olympic tournaments, with the men’s event running from July 28 – August 1 and the women’s from August 3-7.

Here’s what to catch when the tournaments kick off:

HIDEKI MATSUYAMA

After he became Japan’s first major winner at The Masters in April, Hideki gets a chance to add a gold medal to his green jacket.

Hideki was touted as a contender to carry the Olympic torch into the stadium and officially open the games but tennis player Naomi Osaka pipped him at the post.

Matsuyama is treated like a god in golf-mad Japan but unfortunately there will be no local crowd to spur him on towards gold.

But that being said, it won’t be a great disadvantage for Matsuyama.

The notoriously media-shy golfer will enjoy the chance to focus and block out the suffocating pressure that comes with being Japan’s top golfer.

He will be joined by Rikuyu Hoshino, a five-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, while Nasa Hataoka and Moen Imani make up the Japanese women’s team.

THE COURSE

The Kasumigaseki Country Club is the host venue for both Olympic golf events and the private course is no stranger to hosting prestigious events.

With the course located 45km from the centre of Tokyo, most competitors have opted to stay in a bubble hotel close by rather than stay in the athlete’s village.

Featuring tree-lined fairways, the course has a distinctly American feel and isn’t overly long, playing at 6514 yards for members.

And it is also quirky, with a couple of holes featuring trees in the middle of the fairway.

But for Japanese Masters hero Hideki Matsuyama, Kasumigaseki will feel like home because as an amateur, he won the first of his two Asia-Pacific Amateur titles and the Japan Junior Championship.

The Olympic Rings have been placed throughout the Kasumigaseki Country Club.

TEAM MULLET

Rather fittingly, Team Mullet will represent Australia in the men’s Olympic tournament

Team Mullet, aka Marc Leishman and the mullet man himself, Cam Smith, are no stranger to team events (even though strictly speaking, the Olympics is an individual stroke play event).

The pair won the Zurich Classic in April and have experience playing on the International team together in the Presidents Cup.

And from the outset both Smith and Leishman have been fully committed to representing their country at the Tokyo Olympics.

But it was Cam Smith’s sneaky new sideline addition to his famous mullet that revealed some serious Down Under devotion – he shaved an ‘AUS’ into the side of his famous haircut a few days out from the start of the tournament.

Expect Cam Smith’s mullet to become a national living treasure if he wins gold.

US DREAM TEAM

The US heads into the Olympic tournaments with the maximum four-player assault for both the men’s and women’s tournaments.

On the men’s side it’s Justin Thomas,  Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed, who was a late call up when Bryson DeChambeau had to withdraw.

The women’s team sees the Korda sisters joined by Danielle Kang and Lexi Thompson.

Both teams look star-studded and could well trifecta the medals. But the combination of an unfamiliar course and the quirkiness that Japanese golf courses traditionally serve up could level the playing field.

In Rio it was England’s Justin Rose who claimed the gold medal from Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and American Matt Kuchar while South Korea’s Inbee Park won the women’s event from Kiwi Lydia Ko and China’s Shanshan Feng.

It could be the US teams’ time to shine at the Tokyo Olympics.

JUVIC PAGUNSAN

Ranked 226 in the world and a veteran on the Japan Tour, Juvic Pagunsan will represent the Philippines at this year’s Olympic Games.

At 43-years-old he is the oldest member of the Philippines Olympic squad but clearly doesn’t mind marching to the beat of his own drum.

Pagunsan won the Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open in Japan earlier this year and did so using just 11 clubs and four balls in his bag all week.

As caddies weren’t permitted in the event Pagunsan had to carry his own bag and opted to lighten the load saying: “I’m getting older so it’s better to be lighter.”

The win gave him a start in this year’s British Open, but he bypassed Royal St George’s in favour of trying to win an Olympic medal.

The Philippines women’s Olympic team appears to have strong hopes with current US Open champion Yuka Sasso and long hitter Bianca Pagdanganan teeing it up.

GREEN AND GOLD AND LEE

In the women’s event it’ll be major winners Hannah Green and Minjee Lee pulling on the green and gold uniform.

Both are major winners, with Lee breaking through at the Evian Championship in France last weekend while Green returned for a break back in Australia to fine tune her meticulous preparation after a successful first half of the LPGA season.

Lee has Olympic experience after playing in the Rio games in 2016 alongside Su Oh.

Both Lee and Green will go into the Games as legitimate medal hopes and hopefully they’ll get the chance to compare what winning an Olympic gold feels like compared to winning a major title.

SOUTH KOREA

In the men’s Olympic tournament, Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im have added motivation to win a medal when representing South Korea.

Their homeland requires mandatory military service, with all males required to serve at least 18 months in the armed forces between the ages of 18 and 28.

But if Kim or Im were to win an Olympic medal, they would be exempt from having to complete their duty.

It explains why both players bypassed the British Open in favour of preparing for the Olympics, especially considering the struggles their countrymen SY Noh and Sang Moon Bae faced when they returned to the PGA Tour after a two-year stint in service.

Kim and Im clearly have a lot at stake and if either gets on the dais it will obviously mean a lot.

RORY MCILROY

Rory McIlroy missed out in major season but has a chance for some form redemption with an Olympic Gold medal.

But judging by his lack of enthusiasm leading up to the Olympics, it’s hard to know whether Rory will bring his A-game with him.

After finishing his final round at the British Open a fortnight ago, Rory was brutally honest about his thoughts about going to the Tokyo Olympics, saying he wasn’t very patriotic, wasn’t looking forward to the bubble environment in Japan and was only playing because he thought it was the right thing to do.

Rory is the most engaging player in the game, a rare player who actually listens and answers questions from his heart.

To be fair, it’s a tough predicament for Rory, who hails from Northern Ireland and will represent Ireland alongside Shane Lowry.

Hopefully Rory will enjoy himself and hit the ground running - a medal-winning performance could very well kick start another era of Rory dominance.