With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics postponed by a year, the qualifying period for the men's and women's Olympic golf tournaments has also been extended by a year.
The International Golf Federation announced on April 29 that the Olympic Golf Rankings (OGR) points standings will determine the men's field with a June 21, 2021 cutoff and the women's field with a June 28, 2021 cutoff.
Both the men's and women's Olympic golf tournaments have 60-player fields. The field for both is determined in the same fashion, fundamentally based on the world ranking system -- the Official World Golf Ranking for men and the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings for women -- at those cutoff dates.
On March 20, the Governing Boards of the OWGR and WWGR determined the rankings would be suspended with the world of pro golf on pause. A resumption date for the rankings will coincide with the return of major professional golf tours as soon as June. No players had yet qualified for the Olympic tournaments originally scheduled for 2020.
“Having received from the IOC confirmation of the dates for when the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be held and the qualification principles, the fairest and most equitable way to determine the qualifying athletes was to align the previous qualification system with these new dates,” said Antony Scanlon, IGF Executive Director.
“We are pleased that the IOC swiftly approved these changes to provide clarity on this important area. The IGF will continue to work closely with the IOC and Tokyo 2020 to address the other areas that the postponement of the Games affects our sport and our athletes, to develop the necessary plans to resolve these. We remain fully committed to providing safe and fair golf competitions and a memorable experience for our athletes when these Olympic Games are held in 2021.”
The top 15 players at the end of each qualifying period will be eligible for the respective men's and women's fields, with a limit of four players from a given country per tournament. After the top 15, filling the field of 60 will be 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. Japan is guaranteed a spot in each field as the host nation, and each of the five continental regions must be represented in each field with at least one player.
