Korda Sisters, Danielle Kang, Lexi Thompson Lead U.S. Women's Olympic Team
Nelly Korda not only won her first major and achieved her first world No. 1 ranking on Sunday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, but she locked down one of four places on the U.S. Olympic team.
Korda, who will turn 23 on July 28, and older sister Jessica Korda, 28, join Lexi Thompson, 26, and Danielle Kang, 28, as the highest American players eligible for the Tokyo Games’ women’s golf competition, Aug. 4-7 at Kasumigaseki Country Club. The Korda’s younger brother, Sebastian, age 20, is competing at Wimbledon this week and could be in line to join his sisters in Tokyo as a member of the United States tennis team but hasn’t made a decision on participating.
If they choose to play, the Kordas and Kang will make their first Olympic appearances, while Thompson played in the 2016 Rio Games.
Tuesday’s publication of the Final Olympic Golf Rankings determined players who are eligible, with the final event being last Sunday’s completion of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
The United States and South Korea lead the way with four qualified players, while none of the other 34 countries represented has more than two in the 60-player women’s tournament.
South Korea’s Jin Young Ko, previously No. 1 in the world rankings, and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Inbee Park are joined by Sei Young Kim and Hyo-Joo Kim.
In addition to Park, 2016 silver medalist Lydia Ko of New Zealand and bronze medalist Shanshan Feng of China are qualified.
The next step is for the International Golf Federation (IGF) to send confirmation of the qualified athletes to the National Olympic Committees. The NOCs will then confirm use of allocated quota places to the IGF by Thursday and the IGF, in turn, will reallocate all unused quota places before the Tokyo 2020 sport entries deadline on July 5.
The women’s rankings were to have run from July 8, 2018 through to June 29, 2020. However, following the postponement of the Olympics to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IGF and International Olympic Committee adjusted the qualifying system to where the athletes accumulated Olympic Ranking points through Sunday’s conclusion of the major championship.
Qualifiers for the men’s competition, scheduled for July 29-Aug. 1 at Kasumigaseki Country Club, were announced last Tuesday following Jon Rahm’s U.S. Open victory. The Spaniard moved to No. 1 in the world with his win and topped the Olympic Rankings. He was followed by Americans Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau, respectively, making the U.S. the only country with four qualifiers. As with the women, 36 countries are represented among the men.
The top 15 world-ranked players are eligible for the Olympics, with a limit of four players from a given country. Beyond the top 15, players are eligible based on the world rankings, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15. The host country is guaranteed a spot, as is each of the five continents of the Olympics.
The IGF will publish a final entries list of 60 names for both the men’s and women’s events on July 6, which will ratify all the competitors for the respective fields at the Olympic Games.