Golf at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's individual explained

Event:	Men's golf
Games:	2020 Summer
Venue:	Kasumigaseki Country Club
Dates:	29 July – 1 August 2021
Competitors:	60
Nations:	35
Win Label:	Winning score
Win Value:	266 (−18)
Gold:	Xander Schauffele
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Rory Sabbatini
Silvernoc:	SVK
Bronze:	Pan Cheng-tsung
Bronzenoc:	TPE
Prev:	2016
Next:	2024

The men's individual golf event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 29 July to 1 August 2021 at the Kasumigaseki Country Club.^[1] 60 golfers from 35 nations competed in the event, which was won by Xander Schauffele of the United States.^[2]

Background

The first Olympic golf tournaments took place at the second modern Games in Paris 1900. Men's and women's events were held. Golf was featured again at the next Games, St. Louis 1904 with men's events (an individual tournament as well as a team event). The 1908 Games in London were also supposed to have a golf competition, but a dispute led to a boycott by all of the host nation's golfers, leaving only a single international competitor and resulting in the cancellation of the event. Golf would disappear from the Olympic programme from then until returning to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.^[3]

Qualification

See main article: Golf at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification.

Each country could qualify from one to four golfers based on the World Rankings of 21 June 2021. The top 60 golfers, subject to limits per nation and guarantees for the host and continental representation, were selected. A nation could have three or four golfers if they are all in the top 15 of the rankings; otherwise, each nation was limited to two golfers. One spot was guaranteed for the host nation Japan and five spots were guaranteed to ensure that each Olympic continent has at least one representative.

Competition format

Following the format used when golf was returned to the Olympic programme in 2016, the tournament is a four-round stroke play tournament, with the lowest score over the total 72 holes winning.

Schedule

As with most major stroke play tournaments, the event is held over four days (Thursday through Sunday) with each golfer playing one round (18 holes) per day.^[1]

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

Date	Time	Round
Thursday, 29 July 2021	7:30	First round
Friday, 30 July 2021	7:30	Second round
Saturday, 31 July 2021	9:30	Third round
Sunday, 1 August 2021	7:30	Final round

Results

First round

Thursday, 29 July 2021

Austria's Sepp Straka birdied three consecutive holes on his back-nine and finished with a bogey-free round of 63 (−8) to take the first-round lead. A shot behind was Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand, who also did not make a bogey in a seven-under round of 64. Belgium's Thomas Pieters holed out from the fairway for eagle on the par-four 11th hole and shot 65, tied with Carlos Ortiz in third place and two shots behind.^{[4] [5]}

Reigning Open champion Collin Morikawa, at World No. 3 the highest-ranked player in the field, opened with 69 (−2). Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama was four-under on his round through eight holes but made two bogeys to fall back to two-under.^{[6] [7]}

Rank	Player	Nation	Score	To par
1			63	−8
2			64	−7
align=center rowspan=2	T3			align=center rowspan=2	65	align=center rowspan=2	−6
align=center rowspan=3	T5			align=center rowspan=3	66	align=center rowspan=3	−5
align=center rowspan=4	T8			align=center rowspan=4	67	align=center rowspan=4	−4

Second round

Friday, 30 July 2021
Saturday, 31 July 2021

Thunderstorms caused delays in play and 16 players did not complete the second round on Friday. American Xander Schauffele was the overnight leader after shooting an 8-under-par 63. He held a one stroke lead over Carlos Ortiz of Mexico.^[8]

Rank	Player	Nation	Score	To par
1			68-63=131	−11
2			65-67=132	−10
3			69-64=133	−9
T4			67-67=134	−8
		69-65=134
		63-71=134
T7			67-68=135	−7
		64-71=135
		70-65=135
		69-66=135

Third round

Saturday, 31 July 2021

Rank	Player	Nation	Score	To par
1			68-63-68=199	−14
2			69-64-67=200	−13
T3			67-68-66=201	−12
		65-67-69=201
T5			69-66-67=202	−11
		67-69-66=202
		69-65-68=202
		63-71-68=202
T9			70-69-64=203	−10
		70-65-68=203

Final round

Sunday, 1 August 2021

Pan Cheng-tsung won the bronze medal after a seven-man sudden death playoff after Collin Morikawa was eliminated by par on the fourth extra hole. Rory McIlroy, Sebastián Muñoz, and Mito Pereira were all eliminated by birdie on the third extra hole, and Paul Casey and Hideki Matsuyama were both eliminated by par on the first extra hole.^{[9] [10]}

class=unsortable	Rank !	Player	Nation	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Total	class=unsortable	To par
			68	63	68	67	266	−18
			69	67	70	61	267	−17
			74	66	66	63	269	−15
T4			67	68	66	68
			69	64	67	69
			69	66	67	67
			69	70	67	63
			67	69	66	67
			69	65	68	67
T10			70	69	66	65	270	−14
			71	67	66	66
			63	71	68	68
13			69	71	66	65	271	−13
T14			69	69	66	68	272	−12
			68	69	71	64
T16			68	70	68	67	273	−11
			70	69	64	70
			67	67	72	67
			65	76	64	68
			66	70	70	67
			73	67	66	67
T22			70	67	68	69	274	−10
			70	73	63	68
			70	65	68	71
			68	71	70	65
			71	70	68	65
T27			66	73	67	69	275	−9
			64	71	72	68
			71	70	67	67
			69	69	70	67
			70	70	68	67
T32			68	71	70	67	276	−8
			71	65	68	72
			72	71	67	66
T35			69	70	69	69	277	−7
			70	70	70	67
			73	67	68	69
T38			68	69	74	67	278	−6
			73	68	66	71
			71	68	73	66
			69	68	70	71
T42			70	72	73	64	279	−5
			67	72	68	72
			65	67	69	78
T45			71	71	71	67	280	−4
			73	69	67	71
			68	73	72	67
			68	69	73	70
			75	68	70	67
50			69	72	65	75	281	−3
T51			70	71	72	69	282	−2
			72	71	69	70
T53			71	71	70	72	284	E
			72	70	71	71
55			66	73	76	70	285	+1
56			76	69	70	72	287	+3
T57			73	73	70	72	288	+4
			74	72	70	72
59			70	75	69	75	289	+5
60			72	77	73	72	294	+10

The medals for the competition were presented by Sir Craig Reedie, United Kingdom; IOC Member, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Jay Monahan, United States; IGF Chairman.

External links

• Tokyo 2020 – Golf – Olympic Schedule & Results

Notes and References

1. Web site: Golf Competition Schedule . Tokyo 2020 . 31 March 2021.
2. News: Tokyo Olympics: Xander Schauffele wins gold on dramatic final day . 1 August 2021 . BBC Sport . 10 August 2021.
3. Web site: Individual, Men (2016) . Olympedia . 30 March 2021.
4. News: Hoggard . Rex . Special day for Straka bros made sweeter by Sepp's Olympics-leading 63 . Golf Channel . 29 July 2021 . 29 July 2021.
5. Schmitt . Tim . 5 Olympics golf storylines you missed overnight: A weather delay, Sepp Straka shines and a hatless Rory McIlroy . Golfweek . 29 July 2021 . 29 July 2021.
6. Web site: Martin . Sean . 'If I say there's no pressure, I'll be lying': Hideki Matsuyama’s gold medal quest gets off to slow start . PGA Tour. 29 July 2021 . 29 July 2021.
7. News: Bumbaca . Chris . Former Georgia Bulldog, Sepp Straka, representing Austria, leads men's golf; Americans unimpressive after Round 1 . USA Today . 29 July 2021 . 29 July 2021.
8. News: Xander Schauffele has big finish and 1-shot lead in Olympic golf . ESPN . Associated Press . 30 July 2021.
9. News: American Xander Schauffele wins Olympic men's golf tournament, fulfilling his father's dream . 1 August 2021 . USA Today . 10 August 2021.
10. News: USA's Xander Schauffele holds on to capture Olympic men’s golf title . 1 August 2021 . The Guardian . 10 August 2021.