The men's Olympic golf field was determined by the International Golf Federation's world rankings as of Monday. The IGF rankings reflect the Official World Golf Rankings, which are compiled through a performance-based points system. But the OWGR declined to award rankings points for LIV Golf's events, citing the Saudi-funded offshoot league's guaranteed participation by multiple big-name players, its relatively low annual turnover and its team tournament format.
In June 2022, shortly after the inaugural LIV golf tournament, the IGF announced that it would not be changing its qualifying system to account for LIV golfers.
“Tournaments held during the Olympic qualifying period do not qualify for world ranking points and therefore will not count towards the Olympic rankings,” the IGF said in a statement at the time. “There are no plans to change the qualification system for the Paris 2024 Olympics.”
LIV golfers can only earn OWGR/IGF rankings points if they qualify for a major tournament, and most of the players on that circuit have plummeted down the rankings since leaving the PGA Tour. But DeChambeau has been playing strong in golf's Grand Slams, winning the U.S. Open and earning four top-10 finishes in majors since leaving the PGA Tour for LIV, which has kept him atop the rankings. After Sunday's win at Pinehurst No. 2, DeChambeau sits in 10th place.
Of the 60 players in the Olympics, each country is limited to four, and Scheffler (world number 1), Schauffele (number 3 and defending Olympic gold medalist), Clark (number 5) and Morikawa (number 7) are all ranked higher than DeChambeau (as is number 8 Patrick Cantlay, who missed out on the U.S. team despite finishing tied for third at the U.S. Open). Clark, who won last year's U.S. Open, has not finished higher than tied for 33rd in a Grand Slam tournament since then and has missed the cut in three of the last six tournaments.
LIV Golf won't be shut out of the Olympics entirely: World No. 9 Jon Rahm and No. 113 David Puig of Spain will compete in Paris, along with Poland's No. 73 Adrian Melonc, Chile's No. 99 Joaquin Niemann, Mexico's No. 240 Carlos Ortiz and No. 312 Abraham Ancel.
The women's Olympic golf field will be announced next week following the conclusion of the U.S. Women's PGA Championship, one of the sport's five major tournaments.
