EThe field for the sport of golf in the Olympic Games is 60 players for both the men’s and women’s competitions. To qualify, priority is given to the top 15 in the world ranking, with a maximum of four per country. This quota of four has only been achieved by the United States in its men’s section. To complete the 60, the so-called ‘Olympic Golf Ranking’ is taken. Through this, the two best eligible players per country access -up to 60-, as long as that country does not already have at least two players among the 15 best.
In the Netherlands, four athletes have managed to qualify for the Paris Olympic Gameswhich will be played at Le Golf National, the course that hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup. Golfers with places to be in Paris are Joost Luiten y Darius Van Driel (hombres) y Anne Van Dam y Dewi Weber (mujeres). However, the fact of being classified does not mean that they are going to participate in the great celebration of world sport, because The Federation of his country had established some minimum requirements -that they already knew each other-, but at this moment They have reopened a debate in the ‘oranje’ country.
Since the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, the Netherlands has set the standard that Players must be ranked among the top 100 in the world or among the top 36 in the Olympic rankings to join the team. The point is that Luiten stayed in 40th place in the Olympic ranking and 147th in the world; Van Driel is ranked 50th and 237th, respectively. It is also the case of Dewi Weberwhich has even declared in the magazine Golf Digest If it is a question of savings on the part of your Federation, she pays for her trip herself.
In any case, your Federation has made its position very clear: “After careful analysis of the results in the sport of golf, it has become clear that the IOC requirement does not offer sufficient prospects for achieving a position in the top eight. That’s why the golf association [de P.B.] and we [la Federaci�n] we agreed to an additional national requirement.”
We do not know what their analysis was, but they themselves know how a golf tournament works, especially with such a small number of participants. In 2023, without going any further, Michael Block, who was simply a 46-year-old teacher and golf professional, almost won an entire ‘major’ like the PGA Championship. But if we refer to the Olympic results, it should be noted that At Tokyo 2021, two players ranked lower than Luiten won silver and bronze in the men’s competition. It was no miracle, since both Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia) as CT Pan (Taiwan) were accredited golfers and in a good week a great result is possible.
Sabbatini took the silver because he hit 61 shots in the final roundwhile Pan won bronze after going to a seven-player playoff. They occupied the positions 161 and 181 in the world ranking at the time of qualifying for Tokyo. Sabbatini, Argentine by birth, even changed his nationality – to that of his wife – just to go to the Games. With a field of only 60 players, anything is possible in a sport like golf, but the Netherlands Federation doesn’t see it that way.
