Women’s Olympic Golf Qualifying Finalised - Who Is Heading To Tokyo?
The field is set for the 2021 Olympic women's golf competition in Tokyo
The field is set for the 2021 Olympic women's golf competition in Tokyo
Women’s Olympic Golf Qualifying Finalised - Who Is Heading To Tokyo?
Not only was there a major up for grabs at the weekend, but the best female golfers in the world also had one last chance to stake their claim for a place in this year’s Olympics.
Based on the world rankings alone, a maximum of four from any country can play their way into the tournament, provided they are all within the top 15. In the event that there are more than four, the lowest ranked player missed out.
Outside of that, the rest of the 60-player field is made up of a maximum of two per country, with the host nation - in this case Japan - guaranteed at least one entrant.
Unlike the men’s tournament, the women’s field hasn’t been ravaged by withdrawals, which is great to see given how much effort went in to re-establishing golf as an Olympic sport.
So, who has qualified for the 2021 Tokyo Games to represent their country on the biggest stage?
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At the top end of the rankings, new World No. 1 Nelly Korda, fresh off back-to-back victories on the LPGA Tour and her first major title, headlines the four-woman American team that also includes Danielle Kang (5), Lexi Thompson (9) and Nelly’s sister, Jessica (13).
The only other country that will have four representatives is Korea, with Jin Young Ko (2), defending gold-medal winner In Bee Park (3), Sei Young Kim (4) and Hyo-Joo Kim (6) forming a formidable line-up.
Lydia Ko (10), the silver medallist in 2016 will tee it up for New Zealand, while bronze medallist Shanshan Feng (16) has qualified as the leading Chinese player.
Elsewhere, Nasa Hataoka (11) and Mone Inami (27) will have the honour of representing the home nation, while Mel Reid (38) and Jodi Sadoff (86) will make the journey to Tokyo to compete for Team GB - the latter a stand-in as Charley Hull and Georgia Hall both opted to withdraw.
In an Instagram post, Hull, who finished two shots outside the medal positions at the 2016 Rio Games, explained her decision to pull out.
"I’ve been thinking long and hard over the past few months about this year’s Olympics and whether or not I’d be able to give my best performance given all the scheduling and travel challenges involved," she wrote.
"Obviously it would be a huge privilege to represent my country but I have, very reluctantly, made the tough decision not to travel this year which has been very hard given all the amazing memories I have from my experience in Rio five years ago.
"I’ll be following Team GB closely in Tokyo and wish them all the best of luck."
In total, 36 countries will be represented in the 72-hole event that will take place from August 4-7 at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
Women's Olympic Golf Field (provisional)
USA: Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang, Lexi Thompson, Jessica Korda
Korea: Jin Young Ko, In Bee Park, Sei Young Kim, Hyo-Joo Kim
Canada: Brooke Henderson, Alena Sharp
Philippines: Yuka Saso, Bianca Pagdanganan
New Zealand: Lydia Ko
Japan: Nasa Hataoka, Mone Inami
Thailand: Patty Tavatanakit, Ariya Jutanugarn
Australia: Minjee Lee, Hannah Green
China: ShanShan Feng, Xiyu Lin
Germany: Sophia Popov, Caroline Masson
Spain: Carlota Ciganda, Azahara Munoz
Great Britain: Melissa Reid, Jodi Shadoff
Sweden: Anna Nordqvist, Madelene Sagstrom
Denmark: Nanna Koerstz Madsen, Emily Kristine Pedersen
France: Celine Boutier, Perrine Delacour
Ireland: Leona Maguire, Stephanie Meadow
Mexico: Gaby Lopez, Maria Fassi
Finland: Matilda Castren, Sanna Nuutinen
South Africa: Ashleigh Buhai
Taiwan: Wei-Ling Hsu, Min Lee
Italy: Giulia Molinaro, Lucrezia Colombotto Rosso
Netherlands: Anne van Dam
Malaysia: Kelly Tan
Switzerland: Albane Valenzuela, Morgane Metraux
India: Aditi Ashok
Puerto Rico: Maria Fernanda Torres
Hong Kong: Tiffany Chan
Norway: Marianne Skarpnord
Czech Republic: Klara Spilkova
Belgium: Manon De Roey
Austria: Christine Wolf
Slovenia: Pia Babnik
Colombia: Mariajo Uribe
Ecuador: Daniela Darquea
Argentina: Magdalena Simmermacher
Morocco: Maha Haddioui
A lifelong golf fan, Andy graduated in 2019 with a degree in Sports Journalism and got his first role in the industry as the Instruction Editor for National Club Golfer. From there, he decided to go freelance and now covers a variety of topics for Golf Monthly.
Andy took up the game at the age of seven and even harboured ambitions of a career in the professional ranks for a spell. That didn’t pan out, but he still enjoys his weekend golf at Royal Troon and holds a scratch handicap. As a side note, he's made five holes-in-one and could quite possibly be Retief Goosen’s biggest fan.
As well as the above, some of Andy's work has featured on websites such as goal.com, dailyrecord.co.uk, and theopen.com.
What's in Andy's bag?
Driver: Callaway Mavrik Sub-Zero (9°)
3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (15°)
Driving iron: Titleist U500 (17°)
Irons: Mizuno mp32 (4-PW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (50°, 54° and 58°)
Putter: Titleist Scotty Cameron Newport 2.5
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
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