SYDNEY (AP) — While Jason Day is finally playing in the Olympics, two of the remaining three golfers set to play for Australia in Paris are brother-sister duos.
Day, who was ranked number one in the world in 2016, decided not to compete in the Rio Olympics because he was concerned about traveling to Brazil during the Zika virus outbreak while his wife was pregnant. Earlier this year, Day said he regretted not competing.
“I had those spots too. I was having kids at the time and obviously there was the Zika scare, so it kind of freaked me out,” Day said at a PGA tournament in May.
The Australian Olympic Committee announced on Friday that Ming Woo Lee will join Day on the men's team, while Minjee Lee and Hannah Green will form the women's team. The Lee siblings are brother and sister.
Minjee Lee will become the first Australian golfer to play in three Olympic Games, Green will be competing for the second time, while Ming Woo Lee will be making her Olympic debut along with Day.
All four players qualified via their International Golf Federation Olympic rankings at the end of the two-year ranking period, with Green and Minjee Lee finishing in 7th and 11th place respectively, while Day and Ming Woo were Australia's highest-ranked male golfers, finishing in 27th and 36th place respectively.
Green finished tied for fifth at Tokyo 2020, Australia's best Olympic golf result, and has two LPGA Tour wins this year. Minjee Lee has 10 LPGA wins.
Day has 13 career PGA Tour wins, including a major, the PGA Championship in 2015. Ming Woo Lee is the reigning Australian PGA champion and achieved a career-best world ranking of 31st in 2024.
The Olympic tournament will be held at Le Golf National in Guyancourt, near Paris, with the men's competition running from August 1-4 and the women's from August 7-10.
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AP Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
