With eight months remaining until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, shuffling within the men’s and women’s Olympic Golf Ranking (OGR) continues to shape an international field. Over the past month, 12 players – including six on each of the men’s and women’s side – have moved inside the OGR top 60 to position themselves for a coveted spot in Paris.
Players are selected from the OGR with the top-15 men and top-15 women eligible to play in the Games -- with a limit of four from a single country. Once past No. 15 in the OGR (which is based on the men’s Official World Golf Ranking and women’s Rolex Rankings), a maximum of two players will be eligible from each country that doesn’t already have two or more in the top 15. Le Golf National will host 120 of the world’s top players – 60 men and 60 women – near Paris next August.
In the men’s OGR, Adam Hadwin replaced Nick Taylor as the second Canadian potential qualifier at No. 21 in the rankings, while a rising Swedish star, Ludvig Åberg, moved into the ranking at No. 23 off his debut Ryder Cup appearance, DP World Tour victory and PGA Tour runner-up. Rasmus Hojgaard (No. 31) joined his brother Nicolai as Denmark representatives after overtaking Thorbjørn Olesen, while Ryo Hisatsune (No. 37) has moved ahead of Takumi Kanaya as Japan’s second qualifier. Puerto Rico’s Rafael Campos, who re-earned his PGA TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour, has edged into the OGR at No. 60 – taking the spot of Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas in the process – while France’s Matthieu Pavon (No. 39) has overtaken Romain Langasque in a battle to claim the second position for the host country.
Elsewhere in the men’s ranking, Korea’s Tom Kim (No. 9) has entered the top 10 after successfully defending his title at the Shriners Children’s Open while New Zealand’s Ryan Fox (No. 16) has solidified his place in the top 20 after a runner-up and statement victory at the BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour over the past month.
In the women’s OGR, a number of strong performances have pushed some familiar names into position to qualify for the Olympics. After a strong showing on the European Solheim Cup team, Swede Maja Stark (No. 23) has overtaken Anna Nordqvist to put herself in position for a Paris berth, while Olympic mainstay Ariya Jutanugarn (No. 26) of Thailand has re-entered the ranking. Elsewhere, a trio of European countries saw movement as Germany’s Esther Henseleit (No. 34), the Czech Republic’s Sara Kouskova (No. 51) and Denmark’s Emma Spitz (No. 53) moved inside the top 60. The Philippines saw a second potential qualifier enter the ranking as Dottie Ardina (No. 59) supplanted Argentina’s Magdalena Simmermacher.
Notably in the women’s OGR, the United States’ Lilia Vu reclaimed the top spot from Ruoning Yin, while Bianca Pagdanganan (16 spots) and Anne Van Dam (seven spots) took leaps up the rankings over the past month.
As tours across the world wind down in the latter parts of 2023, players will continue to push to solidify their position inside the top 60 to earn a shot at Olympic glory.