Judgment Day: catching the Olympic spirit
Golfers are coming around to what it means to be an Olympian; Paris tee times and notes
Jason Day takes advantage of second chance to be Olympian after whiffing the first (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
Eight years ago, Jason Day was riding high as the No. 1-ranked player in the world. He’d won his first — and still only — major championship a year earlier in the 2015 PGA at Whistling Straits. He’d won the 2016 Players Championship, his eighth PGA Tour victory in a torrid 15-month stretch.
Day might have won Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But he didn’t bother to try.
The Australian skipped the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, citing concern for the Zika virus that was trending at the time. But that was perhaps a convenient excuse to cover up his indifference for golf’s return to the Olympics after 108 years.
Day wasn’t alone. Then world No. 2 Jordan Spieth skipped as well. So did No. 3 Rory McIlroy. And No. 4 Dustin Johnson.
The top-four ranked players in the game all bailed on the Olympics, which hardly served as an endorsement of golf’s inclusion in the program.
But here we are in 2024 in Paris and McIlroy is back in the Games for a second time. Day has qualified again for Australia and this time elected to take part.
The 36-year-old is glad he is doing so.
“I know in 2016, looking back on it, I’ve said it before, where there was some regret, obviously, not going down,” Day said on Tuesday at Le Golf National in France, site of the Men’s Olympic Golf Competition that begins Thursday. “At the time, I think I was like No. 1 or 2 in the world and I think I was like to a point where I was kind of burnt out, and the last thing on my mind was representing Australia in the Olympics.
“Looking back on it, I should have just sucked it up and gone down and played. I think in that case it would have been a great experience for me to go down there and represent something that’s bigger than you, you know what I mean?”
McIlroy has said several times that he never “tried so hard” to finish third as he did three years ago at the Games in Japan, missing out on a bronze medal in a seven-man playoff. It gave him a different perspective on things and has him viewing an Olympic medal as a big accomplishment, especially with his inability to add a fifth major title to his résumé in the last 10 years. (McIlroy would have four career silvers and four bronze to go with his four “golds” if the majors awarded medals like the Olympics.)
“It would be the achievement, certainly of the year …” McIlroy said in Paris. “I think for me, it’s well documented that I haven’t won one of the four (majors) in 10 years. It would probably be one of, if not the biggest, in my career for the last 10 years.”
Day said watching the other athletes compete early in the Paris Games has given him an appreciation he previously didn’t have for what the Olympics means.
“Now, watching judo and some of the women compete yesterday, and the true emotions of what they go through when they lose, and watching some of these women break down, showing how much it actually means, not only to represent their country but like to try and win a medal, because to them, this is their biggest tournament of the year, if not every four years, and this means so much more to them,” Day said.
“For us, we can play a tournament next week if we want to, so it just keeps rolling over. To watch an athlete go through that emotion of trying to overcome a loss or overcome winning for the first time, winning a medal for the first time, is very inspiring to watch.
“So it definitely has changed the way that I view golf in the Olympics, and that’s why I’m very thankful for the opportunity to be able to compete here this week.”
Xander Schauffele, who won the golf in Tokyo in 2021 and now knows what it’s like to win majors with victories in the PGA and Open championships this year, says the value of an Olympic medal is gaining ground with golfers.
“They are two very different things to me,” Schauffele said. “I think the gold medal, it’s been marinating nicely. Maybe in 30, 40 years, it’s something that’s really going to be special as it gets more traction and it kind of gets back into the eyes or into the normalcy of being in the Olympics.”
France’s Victor Perez will get the Olympics golf party started (Stuart Kerr/R&A via Getty Images)
Men’s Olympic Golf Competition tee times
Team France’s Victor Perez will hit the opening tee shot of the Olympics at 3 a.m. EDT on Thursday.
The two biggest heavyweight groupings have world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (USA) playing with No. 3 Rory McIlroy (Ireland) and No. 4 Ludvig Åberg (Sweden) while world No. 2 Xander Schauffele (USA) goes out with No. 7 Viktor Hovland (Norway) and No. 10 Jon Rahm (Spain).
Schauffele (Open Championship) and Rahm (LIV Golf UK) are the only players in the field coming in fresh off victories in their last start.
The Men’s Olympic Golf Competition will air on Golf Channel and Peacock at the following times:
Aug. 1–3 (Thursday-Saturday, rounds 1-3) — 3 a.m. to noon EDT
Aug. 5 (Sunday, final round) — 3 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT (Medal Ceremony in final 30 minutes)
Complete list of tee times (all times EDT) for the first and second round of the Men’s Olympic Golf Competition:
3 a.m. Thursday / 4:55 a.m. Friday: Victor Perez (France), Matti Schmid (Germany), C.T. Pan (Taiwan)
3:11 Thursday / 5:06 Friday: Thorbjørn Olesen (Denmark), Alejandro Tosti (Argentina), Joaquin Niemann (Chile)
3:22 Thursday / 5:17 Friday: Emiliano Grillo (Argentina), Alex Noren (Sweden), Ryan Fox (New Zealand)
3:33 Thursday / 5:33 Friday: Min Woo Lee (Australia), Corey Conners (Canada), Christian Bezuidenhout (South Africa)
3:44 Thursday / 5:44 Friday: Wyndham Clark (USA), Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Tommy Fleetwood (Great Britain)
3:55 Thursday / 5:55 Friday: Sepp Straka (Austria), Jason Day (Australia), Tom Kim (Korea)
4:11 Thursday / 6:06 Friday: Scottie Scheffler (USA), Rory McIlroy (Ireland), Ludvig Åberg (Sweden)
4:22 Thursday / 6:17 Friday: Adrien Dumont de Chassart (Belgium), Daniel Hillier (New Zealand), Guido Migliozzi (Italy)
4:33 Thursday / 6:28 Friday: Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thailand), Gavin Green (Malaysia), Gaganjeet Bhullar (India)
4:44 Thursday / 6:39 Friday: Phachara Khongwatmai (Thailand), Abraham Ancer (Mexico), Dou Zecheng (China)
4:55 Thursday / 3 a.m. Friday: Yuan Yechun (China), Camilo Villegas (Colombia), Matteo Manassero (Italy)
5:06 Thursday / 3:11 Friday: Adrian Meronk (Poland), Sami Valimaki (Finland), David Puig (Spain)
5:17 Thursday / 3:22 Friday: Erik van Rooyen (South Africa), Keita Nakajima (Japan), Kevin Yu (Taiwan)
5:33 Thursday / 3:33 Friday: Stephan Jaeger (Germany), Nicolai Højgaard (Denmark), Thomas Detry (Belgium)
5:44 Thursday / 3:44 Friday: Byeong Hun An (Korea), Shane Lowry (Ireland), Nick Taylor (Canada)
5:55 Thursday / 3:55 Friday: Xander Schauffele (USA), Viktor Hovland (Norway), Jon Rahm (Spain)
6:06 Thursday / 4:11 Friday: Matthieu Pavon (France), Collin Morikawa (USA), Matt Fitzpatrick (Great Britain)
6:17 Thursday / 4:22 Friday: Shubhankar Sharma (India), Rafael Campos (Puerto Rico), Carlos Ortiz (Mexico)
6:28 Thursday / 4:33 Friday: Nico Echavarria (Colombia), Mito Pereira (Chile), Kris Ventura (Norway)
6:39 Thursday / 4:44 Friday: Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay), Joel Girrbach (Switzerland), Tapio Pulkkanen (Finland)
Olympics golden boys Xander Schauffele (2021) and Justin Rose (2016) (Ben Jared/PGA Tour via Getty Images)
Men’s Olympic Golf Competition notes
2024 Paris Olympics marks the third Games since golf was reintroduced in 2016. Prior to 2016, men’s golf was contested in the Olympics twice in the early 1900s (1900 and 1904).
2020 (played in 2021): Gold: Xander Schauffele (United States); Silver: Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia); Bronze: C.T. Pan (Taiwan)
2016: Gold: Justin Rose (Great Britain); Silver: Henrik Stenson (Sweden); Bronze: Matt Kuchar (United States)
1904: Gold: George Lyon (Canada); Silver: Chandler Egan (United States); Bronze: Burt McKinnie (United States) and Francis Newton (United States(
1900: Gold: Charles Sands (United States); Silver: Walter Rutherford (Great Britain); Bronze: David Robertson (Great Britain)
Schauffele and Pan are the two previous medalists in this year’s field.
32 countries are represented in the 60-athlete field (36 in 2020, 34 in 2016); Switzerland will be represented in the Men’s Olympic Golf Competition for the first time (Joel Girrbach)
Highest-ranked player in the Olympic Golf Ranking to medal: No. 2 (5th OWGR) Henrik Stenson, 2016 (silver)
Lowest-ranked player in the Olympic Golf Ranking to medal: No. 43 (208th OWGR) C.T. Pan, 2020 (bronze)
Min Woo Lee (Australia) will make his Olympic debut and watch the following week as sister Minjee Lee competes in the women’s competition. The Lees are the only brother-sister combination in the Olympic golf fields.
Byeong Hun An’s (Korea) parents, Jae-Hyung Ahn (KOR - bronze) and Jiao Zhimin (CHN – silver in doubles and bronze in singles) medaled in the 1988 Seoul Olympics in table tennis.
Field notes:
10 of the top 15 players in the current OWGR, including all of the top seven
Four players will make their third Olympic appearance: Ryan Fox (New Zealand), Gavin Green (Malaysia), C.T. Pan (Taiwan) and Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay)
32 athletes will make their Olympic debuts, including three inside the OWGR top 10: Scottie Scheffler (No. 1), Ludvig Åberg (No. 4) and Wyndham Clark (No. 5)
Five players competed at the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National: Tommy Fleetwood (record: 4-1-0), Rory McIlroy (2-3-0), Alex Noren (2-1-0), Jon Rahm (1-2-0) and Thorbjørn Olesen (1-1-0)
Three champions of the DP World Tour’s FedEx Open de France at Le Golf National: Guido Migliozzi (2022), Alex Noren (2018) and Tommy Fleetwood (2017)
Three players competed in the 2022 World Amateur Team Championship (Eisenhower Trophy) at Le Golf National: Ludvig Åberg (T7/Sweden), Adrien Dumont de Chassart (T11/Belgium), Keita Nakajima (T53/Japan)
Shane Lowry (Ireland) and Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay) were selected as flag bearers for their respective countries during the Opening Ceremony
Oldest competitor in the field: Camilo Villegas (42 years old)
Youngest competitor in the field: Tom Kim (22 years old)
Top player notes:
Defending gold medalist from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Xander Schauffele arrives in Paris as the No. 2 player in the OWGR after claiming his second major championship title of the year at the Open Championship at Royal Troon two weeks ago to go along with the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla in May.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler enters the Olympics with six victories on the PGA Tour during the 2024 season. Scheffler is making his first start since the Open Championship where he finished T7, his 14th top-10 finish in 16 starts on the PGA Tour in 2024.
C.T. Pan is the only other former medalist in the field this week alongside Schauffele. Pan survived a seven-man playoff at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to earn the bronze medal. Five of the six players he defeated in the playoff are in the field this week (only Paul Casey is absent): Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Sebastian Muñoz and Mito Pereira
Rory McIlroy returns for his second Olympics appearance after falling in a seven-man playoff for the bronze medal in his debut at Toyko 2020. McIlroy has two wins during the 2024 PGA Tour Season, with one coming alongside fellow Ireland Olympian Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the PGA Tour’s two-man team format event.
France’s Matthieu Pavon will compete in his first Olympics on his home soil after a career-changing season on the PGA Tour that saw him claim his first title at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. Fellow countryman and three-time DP World Tour winner Victor Perez will also make his debut at this year’s Olympics after earning PGA Tour membership for the 2024 season.
Gold medalist benefits:
Exemptions into all major championships during the 2025 season
Exemption into the Players Championship 2025
Exemption into The Sentry 2025, provided the gold medalist is a member of the PGA Tour at the time of his victory in the Olympic Golf competition
Official World Golf Ranking points