Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald responds to Olympics golf critics, lauds golfers playing for ‘more than money’
Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald shared his opinion on golf being included in the Olympics. Taking to his X (formerly Twitter) account, Donald spoke about the debate on whether golf should be part of the Olympics.
He stated that watching the final round of the 2024 Olympic golf competition was an "ïnspiring" experience for him. Donald was impressed with the golfers fighting to represent their countries and win a medal. He also praised the fact that the players were not playing for a monetary reward, unusually for golf.
He wrote:
"Some people wrestle with if golf should be in the Olympics but watching the final round today and seeing how much these players care about representing their countries, was truly inspiring to me. We are all at our best when we play for more than ourselves, more than money, and I truly hope golf can figure that out in the future."
It is important to note that golfers do not receive any official prize money for winning at the Olympics. However, their home countries often award them bonuses for winning medals.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Scottie Scheffler won the gold medal, Tommy Fleetwood took home the silver medal, and Hideki Matsuyama clinched the bronze. Scheffler earned $37.5k for winning gold from the USA, while Matsuyama received $6,000. However, as Great Britain does not award money to Olympic medalists, Fleetwood did not receive any financial reward.
This was the fifth time golf was included in the Olympics. It was first included in 1900 and then played again in 1904. After being absent for decades, golf returned to the Olympics in 2016. In 2024, golf was featured in the Olympics for the third consecutive time.
Result of 2024 Olympics men's golf
Here are the results of the 2024 Paris Olympics golf men's individual stroke play competition:
- 1. Scottie Scheffler -19
- 2. Tommy Fleetwood -18
- 3. Hideki Matsuyama -17
- 4. Victor Perez -16
- T5. Rory McIlroy -15
- T5. Jon Rahm -15
- 7. Nicolai Hojgaard -14
- 8. Tom Kim -13
- T9. Corey Conners -12
- T9. Jason Day -12
- T9. Joaquin Niemann -12
- T9. Thomas Detry -12
- T9. Xander Schauffele -12
- T14. Wyndham Clark -11
- T14. Thorbjorn Olesen -11
- 16. Christiaan Bezuidenhout -10
- 17. Erik van Rooyen -9
- T18. Alejandro Tosti -8
- T18. C.T. Pan -8
- T18. Matteo Manassero -8
- T18. Ludvig Aberg -8
- T22. Min Woo Lee -7
- T22. Guido Migliozzi -7
- T24. Collin Morikawa -6
- T24. Byeong Hun An -6
- T26. Matthias Schmid -5
- T26. Carlos Ortiz -5
- T26. Stephan Jaeger -5
- T26. Shane Lowry -5
- T30. Rafa Campos -4
- T30. Viktor Hovland -4
- T30. Nick Taylor -4
- T33. Gavin Green -3
- T33. Fabrizio Zanotti -3
- T35. Nico Echavarria -2
- T35. Tapio Pulkkanen -2
- T35. Abraham Ancer -2
- T35. Sepp Straka -2
- T35. Ryan Fox -2
- T40. Shubhankar Sharma -1
- T40. Adrien Dumont de Chassart -1
- T40. David Puig -1
- T43. Kristoffer Ventura E
- T43. Emiliano Grillo E
- T45. Mito Pereira +1
- T45. Gaganjeet Bhullar +1
- T45. Alex Noren +1
- T45. Sami Valimaki +1
- T49. Adrian Meronk +3
- T49. Keita Nakajima +3
- T49. Joel Girrbach +3
- 52. Kevin Yu +4
- 53. Zecheng Dou +5
- 54. Kiradech Aphibarnrat +6
- 55. Daniel Hillier +7
- 56. Yechun Yuan +8
- 57. Camilo Villegas +9
- 58. Matthieu Pavon +13
Following the conclusion of the men's golf events, women golfers will compete at the Olympics this week. The women's event is scheduled to take place from August 7 to 10 at Le Golf National.