With the countdown to the Paris Olympics well underway, one of Ireland’s biggest chances at striking gold could come from the men’s and women’s golf teams. Belfast Live has had a look at the format of the competition, and predicts how well both teams will fare in the capital of Paris.
How it works
Commencing on the 1st of August, the Olympic Golf Competition will be played over 4 rounds of individual stroke play at Le Golf National, the permanent home of the annual French Open and the host of the 2018 Ryder Cup. It will only be the third time the Games have hosted golf as a sport in over one hundred years, and despite it being a relative newcomer to the ceremony, many golfers are now starting to view it as the fifth major competition.
Now that qualifying is completed, all nations except the USA have qualified to send two golfers to the competition, with the USA sending four. The rules for Olympic qualifying are that countries may only send two players unless they have more than two golfers ranked in the top fifteen in the world. As that is the case for Team USA, they can send up to four golfers, provided they are in the top fifteen ranked in the world.
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Ireland’s Men’s Team
Golfing fans will be unsurprised to hear that the pairing of choice for Team Ireland is Holywood native Rory McIlroy and Clara born Shane Lowry. The two are known to be close friends on tour, and have competed together multiple times before, winning the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome.
While both golfers will fancy their chances, the odds are slightly stacked against them for a multiple of reasons. Despite being ranked number three in the world rankings, Rory McIlroy is not at his finest form, missing the cut in disastrous fashion at this year’s The Open, shooting a 78 and 75 which included multiple double bogey’s and even a triple.
He even admitted to thinking about where he was going to go on holiday midway through his second round, accepting defeat before it was over. The 35 year old’s poor performance marks a summer that is quickly becoming one to forget.
Despite having a decent performance at this year’s Scottish Open in finishing T4, it was only in June when McIlroy bottled his best chance in ten years to win a major championship at the US Open.
Le Golf National will be a place of fond memory for McIlroy, being on the 2018 Ryder Cup team that rose to victory. However, the golfing superstar will have to do it on his own this time if he is to rise to glory. Despite not being one of the annual four majors, the Olympics is still arguably the highest sporting event to compete in, meaning McIlroy’s recent biggest weakness will need to be his strength – his bottle.
This won’t be McIlroy’s first time striding for gold at the Olympics, coming short of bronze at the 2020 Tokyo games. Fans will also be intrigued by McIlroy’s choice of nation for the games. Identifying as a Northern Irish athlete on tour, the golfer was eligible to play for both Team GB and Team Ireland. He revealed the choice was not an easy decision.
“I made it more difficult for myself than I needed to. As I said previously, once I left trying not to upset anyone aside, then it was actually a pretty easy decision. The decision was I’m going to play golf for the country or the nation that I’ve always played for through my junior and amateur days and now into the professional game. And that’s Ireland.”
McIlroy was disappointed with his performance at those years’ games, stating at the time he has “never tried to finish third so hard in my life”.
“Once you get in that Olympic spirit, something happens inside of you and you get a sense of what it means to so many people. Just to say I am an Olympian is great but to win a medal would be incredibly special.”
Even though the bookies will give the better odds to McIlroy, Lowry has been the player in much finer form coming into the competition. The 37 year old led this year’s The Open from Thursday to Friday, showing impressive range control in testing conditions. While he wasn’t able to convert his early imposing performances into a major win, he still maintained composure to finish in sixth place, picking up a prize winning of $610,000.
Lowry was one of thirteen players to make the cut in all four majors this year, and the only Irishman to do so. When reflecting on his first experience of Olympic competition in Tokyo, Lowry expressed his eagerness to earn a podium place this time around.
“My first experience in Tokyo was amazing and it feeds you with the hunger of wanting to do it again and to come back and give it a better shot this time. A lot of what I’ve talked about and done this year has been geared towards the Olympics in Paris. I have always said that I’d love to bring a medal back to Ireland, and that’s my number one goal. It’s great to be going back there with Rory too.”
Who are the favourites?
It won’t be surprising for fans to hear that Team USA are the major favourites to pick up a gold medal this time around, with the only nation to bring four players.
That includes this year’s PGA Championship and The Open winner Xander Schauffele and this year’s Masters winner and world number one Scottie Scheffler. The two will naturally be the overwhelming favourites to succeed, with Schauffele being the first player to win two majors in a year since 2018 and Scheffler being recently described as the closest player to come close to Tiger Woods’ prime.
Ireland’s Women’s Team
Leona Maguire from Cavan and Stephanie Meadow from Jordanstown will both represent Team Ireland in Paris. The two athletes are well adjusted to competing together, with this being the third time the pair have competed for Team Ireland at the Olympics.
Leona Maguire will be the favourite of the two to have a chance at attaining a medal, having a stronger professional career being the only Irish woman to win on the LPGA Tour. Despite not having the strongest of performances in this year’s major competitions, the 29 year old recently became the first Irish athlete to win on the Ladies European Tour.
Maguire is relishing the opportunity to represent her country again, and spoke on her tight bond with Meadow. “Me and Steph have known each other a lifetime now, it seems, and it’s our third Olympics together. It’s been quite the journey over the last, almost 20 years. It’s nice to see growth in each other’s games and lives, and nice to be able to share this together.”
Meadow may not be having the best of seasons in major performances either, pulling out of the US Open due to injury and missing the cut in the PGA and Evian Championships. However, she has shown she is more than capable in the past of putting on a show stopping performance, finishing at T3 at the 2023 PGA Championship.
Who are the favourites?
Similar to the men’s competition, Team USA will be the overwhelming favourites to pick up gold at this year’s games, with Nelly Korda being by far and away the best female golfer in the world, winning five events in a row on this year’s LPGA Tour.
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