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U.S. and South Korea lead the way with four qualified players
The qualification process for the women’s golf competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has been completed with today’s publication of the Final Olympic Golf Rankings. The women’s rankings were solidified after Sunday’s completion of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, where 22-year-old American Nelly Korda captured her first major championship to move to No. 1 in the world and top the Olympic rankings. Both the U.S. and South Korea lead the way with four qualified players, while none of the other 34 countries represented has more than two. The 60-player women’s tournament will be held at Kasumigaseki Country Club from 4-7 August. Korda jumped South Korea’s Jin Young Ko and Inbee Park in the final Olympic rankings and is joined by Danielle Kang (No. 5), Lexi Thompson (No. 9) and older sister Jessica Korda (No. 13). Joining Ko (No. 2) and defending gold medalist Park (No. 3) are Sei Young Kim (No. 4) and Hyo-Joo Kim (No. 6). In addition to Park, 2016 silver medalist Lydia Ko of New Zealand (No. 10) and bronze medalist Shanshan Feng of China (No. 16) are qualified. The next step is for the International Golf Federation (IGF) to send confirmation of the qualified athletes to the National Olympic Committees. The NOCs will then confirm use of allocated quota places to the IGF by July 1 and the IGF, in turn, will reallocate all unused quota places before the Tokyo 2020 Sport Entries Deadline on July 5. The women’s rankings were to have run from July 8, 2018 through to June 29, 2020. However, following the postponement of the Olympics to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IGF and International Olympic Committee adjusted the qualifying system to where the athletes accumulated Olympic Ranking points through Sunday’s conclusion to the major championship. Qualifiers for the men’s competition, scheduled for July 29-August 1 at Kasumigaseki CC, were announced last Tuesday following Jon Rahm’s U.S. Open victory. The Spaniard moved to No. 1 in the world with his win and topped the Olympic Rankings. He was followed by Americans Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau, respectively, making the U.S. the only country with four qualifiers. As with the women, 36 countries are represented among the men. The top-15 world-ranked players are eligible for the Olympics, with a limit of four players from a given country. Beyond the top-15, players are eligible based on the world rankings, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top-15. The host country is guaranteed a spot, as is each of the five continents of the Olympics. The IGF will publish a final entries list of 60 names for both the men’s and women’s events on Tuesday, July 6, which will ratify all the competitors for the respective fields at the Olympic Games. Click here to view the final women’s and men’s Olympic Golf Rankings.
