Men’s golf at the Paris 2024 Olympics: players to watch, schedules and tee times

Olympic golf is back for the third time since its reintroduction to the Games in 2016, with the men’s action set to begin Thursday at Le Golf National. First played in Paris in 1900 and again in St. Louis in 1904, Olympic golf took a 112-year hiatus before returning to the schedule in Rio and Tokyo for the postponed 2021 Games.

The 2024 Paris golf competition will feature Xander Schauffele, the reigning gold medalist who is looking for another title just two weeks after winning The Open, his second major championship victory this season. World No. 1 and tournament favorite Scottie Scheffler will also represent Team USA at the Olympics and will be hoping to record his seventh victory of the 2024 golf season. Spaniard Jon Rahm, Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, Swede Ludvig Åberg, American Collin Morikawa and Norway’s Viktor Hovland are also considered heavy favorites to medal.

The field includes 60 players from 32 nations who qualify for the event through the Official World Golf Rankings. The world’s top 15 players qualify automatically, but each nation is limited to four players per flag — this year’s competition features the top seven and 10 of the top 15. Outside the top 15, the top two golfers from each nation are invited to the Olympics until the 60-man field is full. The women’s tournament begins next week, using the same qualification system. The host venue, Le Golf National’s Albatros Course, is 26 miles from the Olympic Village and hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup, where the Europeans defeated the Americans 17.5-10.5. It also hosts the DP World Tour’s Open de France, which is played in mid-October.

Scheme

The first round of the men’s stroke play tournament will be played on Thursday beginning at 9 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET). The second, third and fourth rounds will be played in the same time slot, with the final round on Sunday running until 12:30 p.m. ET for the medal ceremony.

How to watch

TV: Golf Channel in the US BBC Sport in the UK

Streaming: Peacock in the US BBC Sport in the UK

Who’s on Team USA?

Scheffler leads Team USA as the highest-ranked player in the world. The two-time Masters champion is making his Olympic debut in Paris, seeking his 12th world title. Scheffler, 28, is coming off a T7 finish at last month’s Open Championship at Royal Troon, his 12th top-10 finish in a major and 14th top-10 this season.

Schauffele is looking to add a third victory to his 2024 season and successfully defend his gold medal in Paris. In 2020, Schauffele defeated Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia) by one stroke. With victories at the PGA Championship in Valhalla and The Open in Scotland, Schauffele became only the 16th player to lift two major trophies in one season. The 30-year-old hails from San Diego and has nine victories on the PGA Tour.

Forever a gold medalist. 🥇@XSchauffele is a proud Olympian. #OlympicGolf photo.twitter.com/Zfr9yYr2nt

— Olympic Golf (@OlympicGolf) July 30, 2024

Morikawa, the world No. 6, is representing Team USA at the Olympics for the second time. At the Tokyo Games, Morikawa joined six other players in a sudden-death playoff for the bronze medal, which was eventually won by CT Pan. The 27-year-old Morikawa has had one of the strongest major championship seasons of his career, finishing T3 at the Masters, T4 at the PGA, T14 at the US Open and T16 at The Open.

Wyndham Clark, 30, completes Team USA Golf’s representation at the Paris Games. The 2023 U.S. Open champion is ranked No. 5 in the world. He won his first PGA Tour event in 2023 at the Wells Fargo Championship and won his first major championship just over a month later at Los Angeles Country Club. Reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau failed to qualify for the Olympics. Despite his big win this season, DeChambeau is a member of LIV Golf, where tournaments are not recognized by the Official World Golf Ranking, and he ended the Olympic qualifying period as the fifth-best American player in the rankings.

Main storylines

The battle between Schauffele and Scheffler for PGA Tour Player of the Year honors will be an intriguing story heading into this event, which, unlike other Olympic sports, resembles almost any other week on the PGA Tour with its four-day stroke play format. A gold medal for the No. 1 or No. 2 player in the world would be a significant addition to their resumes. Schauffele has two majors to his name in 2024, while Scheffler has one (the Masters) and five PGA Tour victories.

All eyes will also be on Rory McIlroy, who skipped the 2016 Rio Olympics to join Morikawa in the seven-player bronze medal play-off in 2020. After a disappointing missed cut at The Open and a heartbreaking close win over DeChambeau at the US Open in Pinehurst, McIlroy’s performance in Paris could be the redemption he so desperately needs. Speaking at a press conference at Le Golf National this week, McIlroy explained how an Olympic gold medal would enhance his legacy and change the narrative of his 10-year gold medal drought.

“It would be the achievement, certainly of the year… for me it’s well documented that I haven’t won any of the four majors in 10 years. It would probably be one of the biggest awards of my career, if not the biggest in the last 10 years,” he said.

Frenchman Matthieu Pavon is the local hero on the Albatros Course this week. The 31-year-old from Toulouse, France, is coming off his best professional season yet as a PGA Tour rookie — his first tour victory came at the Farmers Insurance Open in February.

“After a few days in the Olympic Village, the opening ceremony in Paris with all those crowds in front of the Eiffel Tower and all the amazing moments of the last few days, it really feels like a gold medal would be more important to me now than a major,” he said.

Exit times

(All times local)

• 09:00/10:55 — Victor Perez (France), Matti Schmid (Germany), CT Pan (Chinese Taipei)

• 9:11/11:06 am — Thorbjørn Olesen (Denmark), Alejandro Tosti (Argentina), Joaquin Niemann (Chile)

• 09:22 hrs/11:17 hrs — Emiliano Grillo (Argentina), Alex Noren (Sweden), Ryan Fox (New Zealand)

• 09:33 hrs/11:33 hrs — Min Woo Lee (Australia) Corey Conners (Canada), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa)

• 09:44 a.m./11:44 a.m. — Wyndham Clark (US), Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Tommy Fleetwood (UK)

• 09:55 am/11:55 am — Sepp Straka (Austria), Jason Day (Australia), Tom Kim (Korea)

• 10:11/12:06 — Scottie Scheffler (USA), Rory McIlroy (Ireland), Ludvig Åberg (Sweden)

• 10:22 am/12:17 pm — Adrien Dumont de Chassart (Belgium), Daniel Hillier (New Zealand), Guido Migliozzi (Italy)

• 10:33am/12:28pm — Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thailand), Gavin Green (Malaysia), Gaganjeet Bhullar (India)

• 10:44 a.m./12:39 p.m. — Phachara Khongwatmai (Thailand), Abraham Ancer (Mexico), Dou Zecheng (China)

• 10:55 a.m./9:00 a.m. — Yuan Yechun (China), Camilo Villegas (Colombia), Matteo Manassero (Italy)

• 11:06 a.m./9:11 a.m. — Adrian Meronk (Poland), Sami Valimaki (Finland), David Puig (Spain)

• 11:17 am/9:22 am — Erik van Rooyen (South Africa), Keita Nakajima (Japan), Kevin Yu (Chinese Taipei)

• 11.33am/9.33am — Stephan Jaeger (Germany), Nicolai Højgaard (Denmark), Thomas Detry (Belgium)

• 11:44am/9:44am — Byeong Hun An (Korea), Shane Lowry (Ireland), Nick Taylor (Canada)

• 11:55/9:55 — Xander Schauffele (USA), Viktor Hovland (Norway), Jon Rahm (Spain)

• 12:06pm/10:11am — Matthieu Pavon (France), Collin Morikawa (USA), Matt Fitzpatrick (Great Britain)

• 12:17/10:22 — Shubhankar Sharma (India), Rafael Campos (Puerto Rico), Carlos Ortiz (Mexico)

• 12:28 pm/10:33 am — Nico Echavarria (Colombia), Mito Pereira (Chile), Kris Ventura (Norway)

• 12:39/10:44 — Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay), Joel Girrbach (Switzerland), Tapio Pulkkanen (Finland)

(Photos by Rory McIlroy, left, and Matt Fitzpatrick: Andrew Redington/Getty Images)