By Ryan Herrington
With the first year of the re-imagined men’s major-championship calendar completed, and players still assessing how to plan their schedules to be best prepared for the big four tournaments, not to mention the looming FedEx Cup playoffs on the PGA Tour, they will have additional consideration in 2020.

The Olympics.

A year from today, Tokyo will host the opening ceremonies for the 2020 Summer Games. Six days after that, the men’s Olympic golf tournament begins, the 72-hole stroke-play competition being played July 30-Aug. 2 at Kasumigaseki Country Club’s East Course in the Tokyo suburb of Saitama. The women’s tournament starts three days after the men’s event ends, Aug. 5-8 at Kasumigaseki, before the closing ceremonies Aug. 9.

The men’s Olympic competition will come just 11 days after the conclusion of the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s. The women’s tournament is likely to fall between the Evian Championship and the Women’s British Open (official dates for these tournaments have yet to be released).

At last week’s Open Championship at Portrush, a handful of players were asked about their interest in competing in the Olympics. Many said they hadn’t yet begun to think about it, given they are still more than a year away.

“I haven’t given it much thought,” said Brooks Koepka. “When the time comes, I’ll get there.”

However, after golf’s successful return to the Olympics three years ago in Rio, and without the health concerns of the Zika virus that caused some players (Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, among others) to skip the 2016 competition, player interest in Tokyo appears far greater, particularly among top-ranked men.

Qualifying for 2020 Olympics began in July 2018, with golfers accumulating points in an official Olympics Ranking that essentially mirrors the men’s and women’s World Rankings. The qualifying period runs through June 23, 2020 for the men and June 30, 2020 for the women.

So who will be competing in Tokyo? To get a glimpse at the possible teams for 2020, we applied the qualification criteria to the most recent Olympic rankings (July 23) and produced the full 60-player fields for the men’s and women’s tournaments.

Here a little refresher for how Olympic qualification works. These same rules apply to the men’s and women’s tournaments.

• The total field is 60 players, with at least one spot held for a golfer from the host country (Japan) if one does not otherwise qualify.
• No country can have more than four golfers competing.
• All golfers ranked in the top 15 qualify, up to the four-golfer maximum for each country.
• After the top 15 in the ranking, golfers ranked 16th and lower will qualify with no more than two players from any one country eligible to compete.

On the men’s side, only the United States has more than two golfers among the top 15 of the rankings (the Americans have nine golfers in the top 15). So the first four—Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods and Bryson DeChambeau—would make the team, with the remaining five (Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau and Rickie Fowler) needing to improve their status if they want to be playing in Tokyo.

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On the women’s side, South Korea is in a similar spot with six players among the top 15 of the women’s rankings. The U.S. has exactly four players currently in the top 15 (Jessica Korda is barely in as she is ranked No. 15).

As for the American teams, all four men’s qualifiers would be first-time players, with the entire 2016 U.S. team of Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed and Matt Kuchar (who won the bronze medal in 2016) outside of the qualification standard. The 2020 U.S. women’s team would have one carryover from 2016—Lexi Thompson—with Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang and Jessica Korda joining her.

Getty Images

In the men’s tournament, 18 golfers who competed in Rio also would be eligible for Tokyo, including gold-medal winner Justin Rose and silver medallist Henrik Stenson. For the women, gold, silver and bronze medalists Inbee Park, Lydia Ko and Shanshan Feng would be among 31 golfers playing a second time.

The last player into the men’s field at the moment would be Germany’s Maxmillian Kieffer, who ranks 271st in the World Ranking. The odd person who would be out is Finland’s Kalle Samooja, who is ranked 285th.

The last player in the women’s field would be New Zealand’s Munchin Keh, ranked 422nd. The first alternate among the women would be Finland’s Noora Komulainen (448th).

Mind you, there are still 11 months to go with plenty of time for player movement.

[divider] [/divider]

MEN – OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS
Alternates are the next highest-ranked golfers from their respective countries who would be ranked high enough overall to qualify.
*—competed in the 2016 Olympics in Rio

Argentina (2)
Emiliano Grillo*
Nelson Ledesma

Australia (2)
Adam Scott
Jason Day
Replacements: Marc Leishman, Cameron Smith, Brendan Jones, Lucas Herbert, Matt Jones

Austria (2)
Bernd Wiesberger*
Sepp Straka
Alternate: Matthias Schwab

Belgium (2)
Thomas Pieters*
Thomas Detry
Alternate: Nicolas Colsaerts*

Canada (2)
Adam Hadwin
Corey Conners
Alternates: Mackenzie Hughes, Roger Sloan, Nick Taylor

Chile (1)
Joaquin Niemann

China (2)
Haotong Li*
Xinjun Zhang
Alternate: Ashun Wu*

Chinese Taipei (1)
C.T. Pan*

Colombia (1)
Sebastián Muñoz

Denmark (2)
Lucas Bjerregaard
Thorbjørn Olesen*
Alternate: Joachim B Hansen

Finland (1)
Mikko Korhonen
Replacement: Kalle Samooja

France (2)
Michael Lorenzo-Vera
Benjamin Hebert
Alternates: Romain Langasque, Victor Perez, Alexander Levy, Antoine Rozner, Robin Roussel

Germany (2)
Martin Kaymer*
Maxmillian Kieffer

Great Britain (2)
Justin Rose*
Tommy Fleetwood
Alternates: Paul Casey, Matt Wallace, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Eddie Pepperell, Tyrrell Hatton

India (2)
Shubhankar Sharma
Gaganjeet Bhullar

Ireland (2)
Rory McIlroy
Shane Lowry
Replacements: Graeme McDowell, Paul Dunne

Italy (2)
Francesco Molinari
Andrea Pavan
Alternates: Guido Migliozzi

Japan (2)*
Hideki Matsuyama
Shugo Imahira
Alternates: Satoshi Kodaira, Yuta Ikeda*, Masahiro Kawamura, Ryuko Tokimatsu, Yuki Inamori

Malaysia (1)
Gavin Kyle Green*

Mexico (2)
Abraham Ancer
Carlos Ortiz

The Netherlands (2)
Joost Luiten*
Darius Van Driel

New Zealand (2)
Ryan Fox*
Danny Lee*

Norway (2)
Kristoffer Ventura
Viktor Hovland

Paraguay (1)
Fabrizio Zanotti*

Portugal (1)
Ricardo Santos

Slovakia (1)
Rory Sabbatini

South Africa (2)
Louis Oosthuizen
Justin Harding
Alternates: Branden Grace, Erik van Rooyen, JC Ritchie, Shaun Norris, Dylan Frittelli

South Korea (2)
Byeong Hun An*
Sungjae Im
Alternates: Sung Kang, Si Woo Kim, Sanghyun Park, Jung-gon Hwang, Hyungjoon Lee

Spain (2)
Jon Rahm
Rafa Cabrera Bello*
Alternates: Sergio Garcia*, Jorge Campillo, Adrian Otaegui, Adri Arnaus, Ignacio Elvira Mijares

Sweden (2)
Henrik Stenson*
Alex Noren
Alternates: Alexander Bjork, Marcus Kinhult , Jonas Blixt, Henrik Norlander

Thailand (2)
Jazz Janewattananond
Kiradech Aphibarnrat*
Alternates: Poom Saksansin, Prom Meesawat

United States (4)
Brooks Koepka
Dustin Johnson
Tiger Woods
Bryson DeChambeau
Alternates: Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler*

Venezuela (1)
Jhonattan Vegas*

Zimbabwe (1)
Scott Vincent

[divider] [/divider]

Scott Halleran
Silver medallist Lydia Ko of New Zealand, gold medallist Inbee Park of Korea and bronze medallist Shanshan Feng of China pose by the Olympic rings after Women’s golf competition at the 2016 Rio games.

WOMEN – OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS
Alternates are the next highest-ranked golfers from their respective countries who would be ranked high enough overall to qualify.
*—competed in the 2016 Olympics in Rio

Australia (2)
Minjee Lee*
Hannah Green
Su-Hyun Oh, Katherine Kirk, Karis Davidson, Sarah Smith, Sarah Kemp

Austria (2)
Christine Wolf*
Sarah Schober

Belgium (1)
Manon De Roey

Canada (2)
Brooke Henderson*
Alena Sharp*
Alternates: Brittany Marchand, Anne-Catherine Tanguay, Maude-Aimee Leblanc, Maddie Szeryk

China (2)
Shanshan Feng*
Yu Liu
Alternates: Jing Yan, Haruka Morita-WanyaoLu, Xiyu Lin, Weiwei Zhang, Wenbo Liu

Chinese Taipai (2)
Wei-Ling Hsu
Teresa Lu*
Alternates: Hsuan-Yu Yao, Yu-Ju Chen, Peiyun Chien, Pei-Ying Tsai, Min Lee

Colombia (1)
Mariajo Uribe*

Czech Republic (1)
Klara Spilkova*

Denmark (2)
Nanna Koerstz Madsen*
Nicole Broch Larsen*

Ecuador (1)
Daniela Darquea

Finland (1)
Ursula Wikstrom*
Alternates: Noora Komulainen*, Sanna Nuutinen

France (2)
Celine Boutier
Perrine Delacour
Alternates: Celine Herbin, Karine Icher*, Camille Chevalier, Astrid Pradenne

Germany (2)
Caroline Masson*
Sandra Gal*
Alternates: Esther Henseleit, Olivia Cowen, Karolin Lampert, Sophia Popov, Laura Fuenfstueck

Great Britain (2)
Bronte Law
Charley Hull*
Alternates: Georgia Hall, Jodi Shadoff, Melissa Reid, Charlotte Thomas, Meghan Maclaren

Hong Kong (1)
Tiffany Chan*

India (2)
Aditi Ashok*
Diksha Dagar

Ireland (2)
Leona Maguire*
Stephanie Meadow*

Israel (1)
Laetitia Beck*

Italy (1)
Giulia Molinaro*

Japan (2)*
Nasa Hataoka
Ai Suzuki
Alternates: Mamiko Higa, Hinako Shibuno, Yui Kawamoto, Momoko Ueda, Minami Katsu

Mexico (2)
Gaby Lopez*
Maria Fassi

The Netherlands (1)
Anne van Dam

New Zealand (2)
Lydia Ko*
Munchin Keh

Norway (2)
Marianne Skarpnord*
Tonje Daffinrud

Paraguay (1)
Julieta Granada*

The Philippines (2)
Dottie Ardina
Yuka Saso
Alternates: Princess Superal, Clariss Guce

Puerto Rico (1)
Maria Torres

Slovenia (1)
Katja Pogacar

South Africa (2)
Ashleigh Buhai
Lee-Anne Pace
Alternate: Stacy Bregman

South Korea (4)
Sung Hyun Park
Jin-Young Ko
Jeonguen Lee6
Inbee Park*
Alternates: Sei Young Kim, So Yeon Ryu, Amy Yang, Eun-Hee Ji, Hyo-Joo Kim

Spain (2)
Carlota Ciganda*
Azahara Munoz*
Alternates: Nuria Iturrioz, Beatriz Recari, Luna Gaimes, Noemi Jimenez, Marta Barrio

Sweden (2)
Anna Nordqvist*
Pernilla Lindberg*
Alternates: Madelene Sagstrom, Caroline Hedwell, Linnea Strom, Daniela Holmqvist, Jenny Haglund

Thailand (2)
Ariya Jutanugarn*
Moriya Jutanugarn
Alternates: Pornanong Phatlum*, Jasmine Suwannapura, Saranporn Langkulgasettrin, Patty Tavatanakit, Pajaree Anannarukarn

United States (4)
Lexi Thompson*
Nelly Korda
Danielle Kang
Jessica Korda
Alternates: Lizette Salas, Angel Yin, Marina Alex, Annie Park, Austin Ernst

The post The 2020 Olympics are a year away. Here are the golfers who would be competing in Tokyo if the Games were played today appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

But a visit to the $19m facility last week left the critically-acclaimed U.S. designer hopeful the links-style layout may yet be saved.

A payment dispute between the Brazilian Golf Confederation and the course’s contracted maintenance company, Progolf, has seen the layout left to nature for nearly a fortnight. That has accelerated fears it may be closed or at least become a scruffy white elephant given the limited green fee uptake from locals in the aftermath of the XXXI Olympiad.

“Currently, the situation as to the management and the operation of the golf course, I’m assured we are going to hear some good news in the next week to two weeks,” said Hanse during a site visit to Trump International Golf Club Dubai earlier this week, a project that is the complete antithesis of the Rio course.

“I hope it is true but I feel it is very much like what we went through in the construction. You know, this sort of brinksmanship seems to be part of that golf course. You almost have to hit the low before we can rebound and come back up.”

Hanse’s muted enthusiasm is understandable with the Olympic course, built on what had been a nature reserve next to the beach in western Rio, mired in controversy from the outset.

Now, in addition to the Brazilian Golf Confederation-Progolf standoff, a state court has frozen the assets of Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes following a request by public prosecutors probing whether he improperly waived an environmental fee for a company that built the golf course.

“That project has had more ups and downs than anything I’ve been involved with,” Hanse said.

“Through the construction, there were certainly lots of ebbs and flows to that, and then the two weeks of [the Olympics]…I almost, I can’t believe how well it went.

“It was just in perfect condition, the superintendent did a super job presenting it , the weather cooperated, the players cooperated, put on great shows. I think our thought process of having some closing holes where things could happen proved to add to the competition.

“Obviously it was a great two weeks for us but I think it was better two weeks for golf and I think we needed that. There were a lot of negatives in the build-up to the Olympics, for it to finish in the way it did and for it to go out on that high note, I think that was great for everybody involved.”

Hanse walked the course during his visit last week and said the deterioration due to the lack of maintenance could quickly be reversed.

“They had stopped mowing the golf course but they were still irrigating it. While I was there, they came out and mowed the greens and my understanding was the maintenance crew were back on as of [December 14]. So it was basically a 10-day window where the course was not taken care of to the standard you’d like to see it,” he said.

“But while we were there walking around taking a look, there was really no damage done to it over that 10-day period of time.”

Still, it must have been hard to see a creation you’ve poured so much effort into looking so unloved?

“You know, I’m so fortunate being able to work in this field, to do something you love and then when you see something like that happen, especially after how exciting, how the world just seemed to enjoy watching those guys and girls play on that golf course, to see all of the sudden the news come out, it’s so disheartening.

“Its probably the most disappointed I’ve ever been.”

The post Hanse: Rio Olympic course decline is ‘so disheartening’ but I’m hopeful it can be saved appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 40-year-old Swede sat down after hosting a golf day for watch sponsor Audemars Piguet at The Els Club, Dubai, little more than 24 hours after clinching his second European Tour Player-of-the-Year title courtesy of a T9 finish at the DP World Tour Championship at nearby Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Stenson touched on subjects as diverse as his love for Game of Thrones and football matches with his children, and reveals Englishman Justin Rose as his best buddy on tour “despite him beating me at the Olympics”.

The Rio Games silver medallist goes on to share fitness and course management tips with outgoing editor Robbie Greenfield and discusses his burgeoning course design business during the in-depth interview.

Discussion inevitably turned to the 145^th Open Championship and the world No.4’s “extraordinary” Sunday afternoon duel with Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon. Stenson describes it as a “boyhood dream come true” and credits Lefty for spurring him on to his historic 10-birdie final round 63.

“Pretty much you have to be two to Tango, right, so without Phil to push me to the edge I don’t think I would have played as well as I did… so he certainly has his part in it,” Stenson said of Mickelson’s brilliant closing 65 and their battle which Jack Nicklaus and eventual winner Tom Watson have since conceded out shone their epic Duel in the Sun at Turnberry in 1977.

SEE ALSO:
Stenson a showman to the end

“It’s a very humbling experience to be mentioned in reference with the Duel in the Sun from the 70s and to be receiving messages from those players that they thought it was an even better match this time around.

“I’ve seen the full coverage from that Sunday and it’s pretty pleasing I have to say. It was an extraordinary day. Managed to break some records that have been there for a while. You never know, they might be washed away next year but they might stand for the next 30 years as well so there was certainly some added bonus to not just winning The Open, which was great in itself, but to set those records…”

Stenson again paid tribute to his great, late mate Mike Gerbich, the Emirates Golf Club stalwart who sadly passed away the week of The Open after losing his battle with cancer.

“Someone put a message up ‘Go win The Open for Mike’ and I was like, yeah, I’m going to try my hardest,” Stenson recalls.

“You know, it might have been the one thing that made a little bit of difference there. When you play for someone else you play with a purpose and I’m sure that helped me. If there is divine intervention that was certainly one of those cases.” – Stenson on his late mate Mike Gerbich

“We always kept in contact and he was always very encouraging and he was always there whether you were shooting 75s and missing cuts, or shooting 65s and winning tournaments. He was always there with a text or a message, just a great supporter and a great friend. He is missed but at the same time you want to remember him for all the great things he did and for such a great person he was. He’s still there with us in spirit.”

In his final question, Stenson was asked to finish the sentence: “Henrik Stenson in 2017 will…”

The reply was as you’d expect. But Stenson admitted his hopes of adding a second major championship to his glittering CV is now much easier said than done given the way his life became even crazier after his record-shattering triumph at Royal Troon.

“Yeah, it’s a bit more busy, a [few] more things to do but at the same time I think I’ve been progressing over the years in managing my time, and managing my calendar and becoming better at saying no,” he said.

“[There’s] only so much time in a day and it’s easy to be going away from what’s your core business and that’s still practicing and competing and playing good golf. “

Stenson admitted on Sunday that he never imagined topping his “Double-double” in 2013 when he become the first player to win the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai as well as both season ending Tour Championships. But the past year has proven there’s every chance of more magic to come from the Iceman, as tough as it will be for the Swede to topple a brilliant 2016.

The post EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Henrik Stenson rewinds the year of his career appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

But then there’s the negative side – the feeling that golf is mired in problems entirely of its own making and becoming increasingly peripheral in the post-Tiger Woods era. There are the frequent rules fiascos, like the one that farcically dominated the final round at the U.S. Open, the bane of slow play and golf’s general reluctance to modernise and accept that changes need to be made to appeal to a younger, more demanding audience. Golf and its players can appear detached from the wider sporting community, evidenced by the widespread refusal by many of its top players to embrace golf’s return to the Olympics.

Should golf be an Olympic sport? It’s an endlessly debatable point but in truth, those still stuck on that argument cannot claim to have the game’s best interests at heart. The Olympics may not have the power to unite a single nation in the same way that the FIFA World Cup does, but no event on the planet has the capacity to better capture the imagination of the wider public than the Games. And it’s not even close. The Olympics is an utterly immersive celebration of the very best of sport and its most dedicated and talented athletes, and this year, golf got a chance to be a part of that show. How could that be anything other than a wonderful opportunity?

Rory McIlroy did golf no favours when he declared that he would only be watching the Olympic events ‘that matter’

I understand why Rory McIlroy snapped at the Open Championship after fielding probably his 1,500^th tedious question on the Olympics. But in saying he would only watch the events “that matter”, McIlroy entirely missed the point. They all matter. Every medal adds to a country’s tally. Every Olympian, from Michael Phelps to Justin Rose, is part of the wider, national effort. And if tennis – another individual sport with four majors, a Davis Cup and a host of other tour events to mirror golf’s own set-up – can place a gold medal right up there alongside Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows, whose to say golf can’t finally find its fifth major?

You only have to see the tears shed by both Novak Djokovic in defeat (describing his early loss to Juan Martin Del Potro as among the toughest of his career) and double gold-medal winner Andy Murray in victory – to instantly appreciate that this prize is every bit as precious as a grand slam. And I would love to know if Rose’s gold yesterday was indeed more special to him than his only major to date at Merion three years ago. I think we might be surprised by his answer.

Try telling Justin Rose his gold medal wasn’t as significant as a major championship

So, after all the debate, the drop-outs and the negative headlines, the Olympics staged a golf tournament, and it came good. No disrespect to Marcus Fraser, but this event needed Henrik Stenson going toe-to-toe with Justin Rose down the stretch. It needed to be a great advert for the game, and it undoubtedly was. The Gil Hanse golf course was a revelation, and I’m hearing that his layout here in the UAE at the Trump International Dubai will be every bit as good.

But more importantly, the players embraced it. This wasn’t a sideshow at some outpost miles from the Olympic Village. Sunday’s final round was a 15,000 sell-out, which for a non-golfing country like Brazil was mightily impressive. And clearly judging by their willingness to excitedly pick up players’ balls, many of the spectators had never so much as set foot on a golf course before. Martin Kaymer and Sergio Garcia both called Rio 2016 the greatest week in their careers. Matt Kuchar said he had never been so proud to finish third. This was no run-of-the-mill tour event.

And at the climax, we saw a piece of skill from Justin Rose that epitomised everything that is so great about this game. A pitch on the 72^nd hole when everything was on the line – it was a stroke that called for both enormous skill and nerveless execution – and was worthy of golf’s first gold medal in 112 years.

A short while after that, Tiger Woods was offering his congratulations to all who took part and Jordan Spieth (somewhat sheepishly) followed suit, stating his goal to qualify for Japan 2020. We can only hope the Zika virus hasn’t found its way to the Far East by then. Something tells me there might be some humble pie on the menu at a few press conferences over the coming weeks.

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