olympics

Olympics 2024: Women's qualifiers set for Paris, U.S. barely misses taking fourth player

By Kent Paisley

June 24, 2024

YOSHI IWAMOTO

Ally Ewing was in the clubhouse Sunday at Sahalee Country Club in position to make the Olympics. She was tied for second place in the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at three under par, needing to finish alone in fifth place or better to play her way into the competition later this summer in Paris.

Over the next 90 minutes Lilia Vu, Jin Young Ko and Miyu Yamashita each birdied the 18th to get to four under, pushing Ewing into a tie for fifth place. The trio of birdies left Ewing just a single spot out of qualifying for the Olympics. When the rankings were released Monday she was 16th in the world, just 0.1192 points out of the 15th place position she needed.

The field was finalized Monday after the KPMG Women's PGA Championship using the Olympic Golf Rankings, which utilizes the Rolex Women’s Golf Rankings. Countries are allowed to have up to two representatives unless they have more than two in the top 15 in the rankings. Nations can send four players if they're all in the top 15.

For the first time since golf's return to the Olympics in 2016, no country will send four players. The U.S. and South Korea, however, will each field three with Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang qualifying for the Americans. Amy Yang's resounding Women’s PGA victory earned her a place in the field for South Korea as she jumped from No. 25 to No. 5 in the world with her first career major. She’ll join Jin Young Ko and Hyo Joo Kim.

Yamashita, who primarily plays on the JLPGA Tour, was the other player to earn her way into the field. Her T-2 moved her to world No. 19, passing Ayaka Furue (No. 20) and Nasa Hataoka (No. 24) for the final spot from Japan.

The women's competition is Aug. 7-10, three days after the men's contest finishes at Le Golf National, which hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup. Celine Boutier and Perrine Delacour will represent France, playing in their home country.

Korda won the gold medal in 2021, Japan’s Mone Inami won silver and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko earned the bronze medal. Inami did not qualify this year, but Ko will again represent New Zealand.

Here's your list of 60 competitors. (Rolex Rankings on June 24 in parenthesis)

United States
Nelly Korda (1)
Lilia Vu (2)
Rose Zhang (9)

Australia
Hannah Green (7)
Minjee Lee (11)

Austria
Emma Spitz (178)

Belgium
Manon De Roey (154)

Canada
Brooke Henderson (14)
Alena Sharp (292)