While golf is in the middle of its Olympic fortnight at the Paris Games, support grows for a third event to be added in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
A proposal to add a 36-hole mixed-team golf tournament to the games, which already include separate men’s and women’s 72-hole tournaments, has been submitted to the International Olympic Committee. Antony Scanlon, the executive director of the International Golf Federation, which oversees the sport for the Olympics, points out that no additional resources would be needed because the players already would be on site.
Some top players expressed support for the expansion, according to Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard, who was reporting from Le Golf National in France for parent company NBC Sports, which is broadcasting the games.
“I think that would be a great format to bring to this competition,” said Rory McIlroy, who competed for Ireland.
One big hurdle: The men and women already play four days of stroke-play competition in consecutive weeks at the Olympics. How would a mixed-team event fit? Between the men’s and women’s events, 16 teams featuring one man and one woman would play one round of foursomes (alternate shot) and one of four-ball (better ball), according to the proposal before the IOC.
Whatever the logistics, Australia’s Min Woo Lee said the addition of team golf “would be very cool.”
“That would make golf grow, which is awesome,” Lee said, “and we want to do that.” READ MORE
U.S. rounds played continues to trend upward
Midway through the year, the appetite for golf in America continues to grow.
The number of rounds played rose 1.2 percent in June, boosting the six-month trend to a 2-percent increase over the same period in 2023, which was a record-setting year for on-course participation in the U.S., Golf Datatech reported.
Despite more precipitation across much of the continental U.S. in June, higher numbers were reported in five of the eight geographic regions defined by Golf Datatech. The Mid-Atlantic (New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) and New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) regions logged the biggest gains for the month, at 7.2 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively.
The increase for the first half of 2024 has been evenly split across public-access (2.1 percent) and private (1.9 percent) courses. READ MORE
England’s Lottie Woad, the No. 1-ranked female amateur in the world, and English sisters Euphemie and Patience Rhodes were among the eight players named by captain Catriona Matthew to Great Britain and Ireland’s Curtis Cup team, the R&A announced.
Woad, the reigning Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion from Farnham, is a 20-year-old rising junior at Florida State.
The biennial match will be played August 30-September 1 at Sunningdale (England) Golf Club. The Americans have won the past three matches by an average of 9.33 points and dominate the series, 31-8-3. READ MORE
The American Junior Golf Association named eight top junior girls to the United States team for the 2024 Ping Junior Solheim Cup, to be played Sept. 9-10 at Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia, ahead of the 2024 Solheim Cup Sept. 13-15 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia.
Earning automatic spots based on the Rolex AJGA Rankings are: Gianna Clemente, Estero, Florida; Asterisk Talley, Chowchilla, California; Nikki Oh, Torrance, California; Sofia Cherif Essakali, Orlando, Florida; Elizabeth Rudisill, Charlotte, North Carolina; Jude Lee, Walnut, California; Scarlett Schremmer, Birmingham, Alabama; and Mia Hammond, New Albany, Ohio,
The final four U.S. team spots will be picked by captain Beth Daniel on Tuesday. READ MORE
The R&A unveiled the world’s first “playable golf billboard” at Edinburgh Waverley Station in Scotland, allowing fans to experience playing the par-3 eighth hole of the Old Course in St Andrews, the host venue of this year’s AIG Women’s Open.
As part of the new “Never Stop Playing” campaign, The R&A created this billboard simulator to reimagine how golf enthusiasts engage with the sport while also promoting the upcoming major championship, scheduled to be played at St Andrews from Aug. 22-25.
Fans can step up to the billboard, grab a real club and ball, and take a swing. The technology employs cameras to track the player’s velocity, arc and direction, digitally encoding the swing in real-time to show where the ball would land on the virtual par-3, eighth hole.
With a real-time leaderboard tracking nearest-to-the-pin shots, participants compete in a fun golf challenge. Those who were nearest to the pin received a pair of Sunday tickets to the AIG Women’s Open and a chance for the winner to be an official walking scorer for one of the groups during the final round at St Andrews. READ MORE
TAP-INS
Arizona State’s Preston Summerhays will start the 2024-25 college season atop the PGA Tour University ranking, the tour announced. Summerhays, a senior from Scottsdale, is a four-time winner for the Sun Devils who is No. 6 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The No. 1 player in the PGA Tour University ranking will earn PGA Tour membership, and Nos. 2-5 will earn full exemptions on the Korn Ferry Tour. READ MORE
Gary Player turned to social media to dispute the sale of a replica Claret Jug he was given for his 1974 Open Championship victory at Royal Lytham, but his son and the auction house that sold the trophy for $481,068 disputes the World Golf Hall of Fame member’s story, Golfweek’s Adam Schupak reported. READ MORE
Europe announced its 12-girl team for the Junior Solheim Cup as the Americans disclosed their first eight players for the biennial match on September 9-10 at Army-Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia. READ MORE and MORE
Brent Sipe, who started as a 14-year-old caddie and rose to head professional in a 45-year career at Moraine Country Club in Dayton, Ohio, was honored by the Western Golf Association with its Distinguished Service Award during last week’s Western Amateur. READ MORE
Robert Trent Jones Jr. has been chosen as the 2024 recipient of the Donald Ross Award presented by the American Society of Golf Course Architects. The award, given annually since 1976, honors a person who has made a significant contribution to the game of golf and the profession of golf course architecture. It will be presented to Jones at the ASGCA annual meeting in San Francisco on Nov. 11. READ MORE
Ian Shaw, a Durham County Golf Union executive committee member and Chairman of Rules and Juniors, died of a heart attack last Wednesday evening after refereeing the English Amateur Championship at Hartlepool Golf Club, England Golf announced. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon