ONE YEAR TO GO TO PARIS 2024

Leading stars from men's and women's game poised for more Olympic glory

- HELEN ROSS

A little more than a year from now, 120 of the world’s best golfers – 60 men and 60 women -- will gather at Le Golf National to compete in Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The course, which is just southwest of Paris and 15 minutes from the majestic Palace of Versailles, is no stranger to international competition after hosting the 2018 Ryder Cup as well as the Open de France on the DP World Tour 28 times.

Golf in the Olympics is in its relative infancy, though. The sport returned to the roster of events in 2016 after an absence of 112 years and the coveted gold, silver and bronze medals awarded in France will be just the fifth set for the men and the fourth for the women.

Even so, what unfolds during that two-week span in August 2024, could be historic.

No male or female golfer has ever medaled in three Olympics. But barring a precipitous drop in the Olympic Golf Ranking over the next 12 months, Lydia Ko of New Zealand will head to Paris with just that opportunity.

Ko won a silver medal in 2016 at the Rio Olympics, finishing five strokes behind South Korea’s Inbee Park despite making her first-ever ace during the third round. And in the 2020 Games in Tokyo, Ko lost a silver medal playoff to Japan’s Mone Inami after both players finished a shot behind Nelly Korda of the United States.

“Paris is probably going to be my last Olympics,” the 26-year-old said. “Obviously, it’d be another year on top of this year and then another four on top of that, and I don’t know whether I’d like to be competing by the time it comes to L.A. (and Riviera Country Club).