All photos (taken at the Paris 2024 Olympics) courtesy of the International Golf Federation; here, the USA's Nelly Korda tees off.
The IOC’s addition of Mixed Team Golf to the Olympic program at Los Angeles in 2028 has created the first Olympic golf team competition since the 1904 games.
By all accounts, it is a welcome change.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to see a Mixed-Team Event added to the program for Los Angeles 2028,” said Antony Scanlon, the International Golf Federation’s executive director. “Golf was incredibly successful at Paris 2024, and as we continue building on the momentum from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, we’re excited to bring even more attention to our sport through this additional format. The athletes were very enthusiastic about their desire to play with their compatriots, and we look forward to watching them compete together in Los Angeles.”
Golf is now one of six sports (along with archery, track & field, gymnastics, rowing, coastal beach sprint and table tennis) to add a mixed gender competition. The Winter Olympics have also included mixed gender competitions, including alpine skiing, biathlon, curling, figure skating, freestyle aerials, luge, short track speed skating, ski jumping and snowboard cross. (Some are relays, while others are team competitions.)
The IOC, which is strongly in favor of mixed gender events, is expected to add others, seeing them as a way to promote gender equality and inclusivity within the Games, to showcase the talents of all athletes, regardless of gender, and to increase the number of medal opportunities for both men and women, notes the writer of this improbably witty article in Sports Illustrated.
According to CNN, the new golf event will consist of a 36-hole competition across two 18-hole rounds, with each team consisting of one male and one female player who have already qualified for the singles events. Only one pair per nation will be permitted to take part. The competition will be split into two formats – foursomes (alternate shots) for the first round and four-ball (best ball) for the second.
The event will be played between the men’s and women’s individual competition at Riviera Country Club and each nation will only be allowed one team, note reporters at NBC Sports.
Will golf event owners start adding their own mixed gender competitions? Well, in a sense, it’s already happening. Currently, the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour hold an unofficial mixed-team event, the Grant Thornton Invitational in December. In December 2022, Hannah Green, in the $200,000 TPS Murray River, became the first woman to win a 72-hole mixed gender tournament on any of the world’s leading golf tours.
Additionally, it would be the rare amateur golf tournament held in conjunction with a convention of any kind, where men and women did not compete on the same foursome.
Plus, says the article in SI, it adds an extra layer of interest, particularly when you take into account those who want to root for their home nation (meaning everyone), with an ascerbic take on the 2020 Games
The U.S. [performed well] in the mixed triathlon relay, which the official Olympics website describes as—this is a direct quote—“one of the Games' most furious events,” along with judo and trying to get on a media bus. The U.S. won silver.
Witty commentary aside, it will be interesting to see how the new golf event plays out, and whether other event owners decide to incorporate it.
In other IOC news, lead and bouldering will have separate medals at the 2028 LA Olympics, creating three distinct climbing events: Speed, Lead, and Boulder, a decision celebrated by climbing specialists.
And after the Paris Games achieved 50:50 gender parity for athletes, LA28 will implement significant measures to further promote gender equality, notes DW. For the first time in Olympic history, the number of female athlete quota spots (5,655) will surpass male quota spots (5,543).
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