Overview of golf at the Olympics
Golf at the Summer Olympics |
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IOC Discipline Code | GLF |
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Governing body | IGF |
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Events | 2 (men: 1; women: 1) |
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- 1924
- 1928
- 1932
- 1936
- 1948
- 1952
- 1956
- 1960
- 1964
- 1968
- 1972
- 1976
- 1980
- 1984
- 1988
- 1992
- 1996
- 2000
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Golf was featured in the Summer Olympic Games official programme in 1900 and 1904. At the IOC session in Copenhagen in October 2009, the IOC decided to reinstate this event for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[1][2] The International Golf Federation is governing body for golf at the Olympic Games. As of the 2016 Olympics, qualification is based primarily upon the Official World Golf Ranking (men) and Women's World Golf Rankings, with the top 15 of each gender automatically qualifying (with a limit of four per country), and then the highest ranked players from countries that had not yet already qualified two players.[3][4][5][6]
Events
- 1900
- 1904
- 2016
- 2020
A men's individual tournament was planned for the 1908 London Games, but an internal dispute amongst British golfers led to them boycotting the event, leaving 1904 gold medallist George Lyon as the only competitor.[9] Offered the gold medal by default, Lyon refused to accept it.[9] Present day, the Olympic golf tournaments only consists of a men's individual stroke play and women's individual stroke play. There has been calls for the IGF and the IOC to consider adding a match play tournament or to open up the Olympic tournament to more golfers by using a different qualifying system than the World Golf Ranking.[10]
Participating nations
22 golfers competed in 1900. The 1904 tournament featured 77 golfers. Albert Lambert was the only golfer who competed both times; a total of 98 different golfers competed throughout the brief history of Olympic golf before it was brought back in 2016.[citation needed]