There are plenty of familiar names dotting the top of the Olympic Golf Rankings, such as past major champs Brooks Koepka and Danielle Kang. But with just under one year to go until the rescheduled Olympic Games Tokyo 2021 there is plenty of time for things to change, and change quickly, as evidenced by this past weekend’s PGA Championship.
At Harding Park in San Francisco, 23-year-old Collin Morikawa shot a 5-under 65 and a 6-under 64 over the weekend to win his first major championship in just his second attempt. Now Morikawa finds himself No. 4 in the rankings, announcing his arrival to the world of golf and his contention for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team.
There’s a long way to go, of course. In a normal year, the PGA would have been in May and Team USA golfers would have been swinging for gold medals in Tokyo this past Saturday. But with the Games postponed a year, the qualification period for golf now ends June 21, 2021, for men and June 28 for women.
The Olympic Golf Rankings are based on the world golf rankings for men and women. Players are ranked based on their finish in tournaments, with tournaments weighted based on the strength of the field of players and proximity to the Olympic Games. As many as four men and four women per country can qualify, so long as all are ranked among the top 15. Otherwise, each country has a maximum of two men and two women to fill out the 60-person fields.
From relative newcomers like Morikawa to experienced pros like Kang, these are the Team USA golfers to watch from now until June, with their rankings as of August 10, 2020.
