SAINT-QUENTIN YVELINES, France — If Olympic golf matters — if it matters to the golf world, rife with money and territorial disputes, if it figures out whether this format is the best way to present the sport to a global, nongolfing audience — perhaps the only people who can answer that question are four men representing four countries that have fewer golfing populations than any single U.S. state.
Ryan Fox of New Zealand, Gavin Green of Malaysia, Pan Donghai of Chinese Taipei and Fabrizio Zanotti of Paraguay are all playing in their third consecutive Olympics and are the only male golfers to have competed in three Olympics since golf resumed competition in 2016. Their assessment of the importance and rise of Olympic golf in just eight years is clear: golf is in a different position because it has found a place on the biggest stage in sports.
“It feels like a big event, like a major,” said Green, currently ranked No. 277 in the world. “The top players are here, and it's a real shot-playing golf course. There's no mess.”
Eight of the top 10 men in the Official World Golf Ranking are competing this week, after the top four men in the world missed the Rio Olympics in 2016 and the top two men three years ago missed the Tokyo Olympics.
“It’s definitely different this time,” said Fox, a four-time DP World Tour champion. “I think we were probably a little unlucky at the beginning with Zika and COVID being common, but we didn’t have a single top player opt out this year, which is cool. The field is really strong this week, and it took a while for tennis to find its place in the Olympics, and I think golf is definitely starting to do that.”
Fox has a point. When tennis was added to the Olympic program in 1988, top players were slow to respond. It wasn't until 2008 that players like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray began to win medals. Golf could use the same runway.
The IOC has clearly been watching golf closely to see how top players react to having the sport on the schedule, and the organization has made the Olympic experience a priority. There have undoubtedly been some roadblocks for golf, too. The case of the Dutch Olympic Committee banning Joost Lutten from golf, and then not allowing him to compete after a Dutch court ruled in his favor, seems to have been poorly handled.
But the most important reflection of the strength of Olympic golf is the strength of the men.
“For me, success means the quality of the field, and we are achieving that. Obviously there will be six different medalists at the end, hopefully from six different countries, because that shows the diversity of our game,” said Anthony Scanlon, executive director of the International Golf Federation. “This is an opportunity for us to reach a new audience, a younger audience, more gender equal, people will see the best players in the world showcase their skills, and this course will showcase that. We hope to have more fans watching the tournament, and ultimately for our members to take advantage of the new fan base and ultimately convert them into participants.”
But Fox, Green, Penn and Zanotti have felt the impact over the eight years. Each of them realizes that a medal will change not only their lives individually, but the direction of the sport. Fox has seen it in the success of Lydia Ko, who won medals in her first two tournaments, and now has more than 500,000 golfers in the country.
“Lydia has done an incredible job for us with these two medals and her career,” said Fox, who is competing against first-time Olympian Dan Hillier. “There are so many entries. If Dan or I win a medal for New Zealand in golf, especially a gold, it means a lot to our country.”
Pan, who won bronze in the sevens playoffs at the Tokyo Olympics, spoke about the importance of the Olympics at the John Deere Classic earlier this month. “This is the most important event for my country and myself,” he said at the time. “That bronze medal means everything.”
Zanotti, who had just entered the tournament as the No. 373 golfer in the world, was the flag bearer for Paraguay at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics for the second year in a row. At 41, he has taken the Olympics so seriously that they have defined his career in ways he never considered possible.
“I wasn’t playing my best golf, I was just on the line the whole time and everybody expected me to be here,” he said.
“It was a bit tough but in the end I made the cut and everyone is happy. It means everything to my son, teeing off with him on Thursday and him seeing me there, it's very special for me.”
What stood out most when these four Olympic golf veterans talked about the experience was what it meant to others, why the event was more meaningful because of the presence of other top players, and what impact it had on their respective countries. That was evident in many ways, including the Olympic rings tattoo Green has underneath his right bicep. He got it when he competed in his first Olympics. He never thought about competing in the Olympics for a third time. But this time he thought it would be different.
“You know, your life on tour is week after week, and it’s all happening,” he said. “But this feels special, you know?”
