The women’s golf competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics kicks off Wednesday, August 7 at Le Golf National, located just outside of Paris. This marks the fourth-ever playing of women’s golf in the Olympics, and just the third time since 2016. While the men’s competition concluded on Sunday, seeing American Scottie Scheffler win gold with a course-record-equaling -19, the women’s competition is just getting ready to heat up. Here’s everything you need to know about women’s golf in the 2024 Paris Olympics before the first tee time.
Paris 2024 Women’s Olympic Golf Competition
Starting at 3:00 a.m. EST, Le Golf National will host the 72-hole individual stroke play competition featuring a field of 60 golfers. 33 nations will be represented, with two former Olympic medalists, ten 2024 LPGA Tour winners, and nine of the World Top 10 women’s golfers jockeying for the coveted spot atop the podium and an Olympic gold medal.
History of Olympic Women’s Golf
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Before the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, women’s golf had only been featured as an Olympic competition once before in 1900. The 1900 Games, fittingly in Paris, was the first to allow women to compete, despite limiting them to only 5 competitions: equestrianism, tennis, sailing, rowing, and golf. While the Olympic men played a 36-hole golf competition spanning three days, the women only had nine holes to win the gold…bowl. While some events were given gold, silver, and bronze medals like we see today, golf was one of a handful of competitions to be played for bowls, cups, and other small trophies.
Three Americans graced the podium that year, with amateur Margaret Abbott becoming the first woman to win an Olympic gold under the stars and stripes after posting a score of 47 strokes. However, a world’s fair known as the 1900 Paris Exhibition was going on at the same time as the 1900 Olympic Games, causing confusion amongst viewers and athletes alike–so much so that the Olympic golf competition was billed in newspapers and posters as “The Exposition Competition” or “Paris World’s Fair Competition” rather than an Olympic event. Because of this, Abbott lived her entire life without knowing she had not only competed in the Olympics, but made American sporting history.
US Women's Olympic Golf Team 2024
The United States is one of two countries sending three competitors to the Paris Games, led by World No. 1 and defending gold medalist Nelly Korda. The 25-year-old Florida native is hot off of a record-setting 2024 LPGA campaign, winning five LPGA Tour titles in succession. She looks to claim her second gold medal in as many efforts, having defeated Japan’s Inami Mone by one stroke in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
2023 LPGA Tour Player of the Year and current World No. 2 Lilia Vu takes the second seat on Team USA, competing in her first-ever Olympics. Vu, who won two major championships and led the LPGA in earnings in 2023, suffered a back injury in March of this year at the Blue Bay LPGA. However, after three months sidelined, Vu won her first tournament back (Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give) and tied for second in the following week (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship).
Team USA is rounded out by 21-year-old World No. 9 Rose Zhang, the youngest-ever golfer to represent the United States in the Olympics. Zhang, who only went pro a little over a year ago, spent 141 consecutive weeks on the World Amateur Golf Ranking–a record for any golfer in history. She also became the first golfer since 1951 to win in her LPGA professional debut after claiming victory at the Mizuho Americas Open in June of 2023.
Who Else to Look Out for on the Leaderboard
South Korea, home to Rio de Janeiro 2016 gold medalist Inbee Park, is the only other country to have three competitors in this year’s Olympics. They bring with them the World No. 3 Amy Yang, No. 4 Jin Young Ko, and No. 12 Hyo Joo Kim. The longtime threats to the similarly dominant Team USA look to play spoiler to Nelly Korda and the Americans.
Also looking to disrupt Korda’s gold medal defense is former World No. 1 New Zealander Lydia Ko (No. 22), the only other competitor in the Paris Games with an Olympic medal in her trophy case. Ko now enters her third Olympics, having nabbed a silver medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and a bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Games. In 2012, Ko became the youngest-ever woman to win an LPGA Tour title at 15 years and 4 months old at the Canadian Open. A year later, she successfully defended her Canadian Open title and became the only amateur to ever win two LPGA Tour events.
The rest of the World Top 10 competitors in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games are No. 5 Ruoning Yin from China, No. 6 Hannah Green from Australia, No. 7 Celine Boutier from France, and Nos. 8 and 10 Ayaka Furue and Yuka Saso from Japan.
When does the Women’s Olympic Golf Start?
NBC’s coverage of the women’s golf event starts early at 3am EST on Wednesday, August 7. The medal ceremony will take place on Saturday, August 10th after the competition concludes around 12:30 p.m. EST.
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