KPMG Women’s PGA Championship provides women one last qualifying opportunity for Paris
One of the last Olympic qualifying events for the 2024 women’s golf competition at Le Golf National takes place this week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash.
The final 60 qualifiers will be determined on Monday, June 24, following the conclusion of the third major championship of the LPGA Tour season, and with one last chance to earn a spot in the field in Paris, many players in this week’s field will be working to capitalize on this final shot at Olympic qualification.
In the top 15, the United States remains the only country with more than two representatives, as Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang lead the way for the Americans. Australia, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Korea each have two players in the top 15, a group of athletes that includes this week’s defending champion Ruoning Yin, who will be making her Olympic debut in Paris.
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko currently sits at 15th in both the Olympic Golf Ranking and the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings with 2023 CPKC Women’s Open winner Megan Khang nipping at her heels. Khang is 16th in the world ranking and trying to become the fourth American qualifier for the 2024 Games, something she would be likely to accomplish with a victory in Washington.
Two of the tighter races for qualification involve Japan and Sweden. While Yuka Saso claimed her place at Le Golf National with her victory at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally, Ayaka Furue and Nasa Hataoka are duking it out for the second qualifying spot for Japan. The pair are separated by one position in the Rolex Rankings, and a good finish for either player would qualify them to compete in Paris, something that Furue has yet to do in her young career and that Hataoka has only done one time, teeing it up in her first Games in Tokyo in 2021.
KAWAGOE, JAPAN - AUGUST 05: Nasa Hataoka of Team Japan plays her shot from the 11th tee during the second round of the Women's Individual Stroke Play on day thirteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Kasumigaseki Country Club on August 05, 2021 in Kawagoe, Japan. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Maja Stark and Linn Grant are currently qualified for the Swedish team, with Stark sitting at 16th in the Olympic Golf Ranking and 17th in the Rolex Rankings and Grant at 19th in the OGR and ranked 27th in the world. Stark is seemingly all but locked in to make her Olympic debut in just under two months’ time, but Madelene Sagstrom is working to chase down Grant, who she is 11 spots behind in the Rolex Rankings.
HELSINGBORG, SWEDEN - JUNE 07: Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden tees off on the first hole during day two of the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed at Vasatorps Golfklubb on June 07, 2024 in Helsingborg, Sweden. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)
It would take a monumental effort from Sagstrom to catch up to her younger counterpart, and while a major victory at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship would certainly close that gap, winning at a challenging venue like Sahalee is an incredibly tall order, even for the most seasoned of veterans.
Two other notable players who are currently qualified are Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe and Finland’s Ursula Wikstrom. Uribe is one of a handful of mothers who are ranked in the top 60 of the Olympic Golf Ranking and has announced her intentions to retire after the 2024 Games. Wikstrom would be the oldest player in the field at Le Golf National, as she turns 44 in July.