By Laura Fellwock (@AJGAFellwock ), AJGA Communications
With just one month before the Olympics, the International Golf Federation (IGF) has announced the golfers qualified to play in the games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Thirty-nine of the 120 players who have qualified to play in golf’s first appearance in the Olympics in 112 years are AJGA alumni.
According to the IGF, “the IOC has restricted the IGF to an Olympic field of 60 players for each of the men’s and women’s competition. The IGF will utilize the official world golf rankings to create the Olympic golf rankings as a method of determining eligibility. The top-15 world-ranked players will be eligible for the Olympics, with a limit of four players from a given country. Beyond the top-15, players will be 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 following AJGA alumni are qualified to participate:
Men
Argentina—Emiliano Grillo
Belgium—Nicolas Colsaerts
Canada—David Hearn, Graham DeLaet
Japan—Yuta Ikeda
Mexico—Rodolfo Cazaubón
New Zealand—Danny Lee
Paraguay—Fabrizio Zanotti
South Africa—Brandon Stone
South Korea—Byeong-Hun An
Spain—Sergio Garcia
Taiwan—Cheng-Tsung Pan
United States—Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson
Women
Australia—Minjee Lee
Brazil—Miriam Nagl
Canada—Brooke Henderson, Alena Sharp
Colombia—Mariajo Uribe
Denmark—Nicole Larsen
Hong Kong—Tiffany Chan
India—Aditi Ashok
Ireland—Stephanie Meadow
Israel—Laetitia Beck
Malaysia—Kelly Tan
Mexico—Alejandra Llaneza, Gaby Lopez
Paraguay—Julieta Granada
South Africa—Ashleigh Simon
South Korea—Inbee Park
Spain—Azahara Munoz
Sweden—Pernilla Lindberg, Anna Nordqvist
Taiwan—Candie Kung
Thailand—Ariya Jutanugarn
United States—Stacy Lewis, Lexi Thompson