It’s the women’s turn to shine on an Olympic stage at Le Golf National following a thrilling back-nine finish for the men’s competition, which saw world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler take home the gold for Team USA. Contested from Wednesday to Saturday, the 72-hole stroke play tournament features 60 women representing 33 countries. Like the men’s competition, women’s golf will be a part of the games for just the third time since being reinstated in 2016. Golf was played in the 1900 and 1904 Olympics before taking a 112-year hiatus until the Rio Games.
Team USA’s Nelly Korda, the defending gold medalist from the Tokyo Games, will tee up in Paris in search of her seventh win this season. Her fellow American competitors Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang are also betting favorites heading into the week. French stars Celine Boutier and Perrine Delacour will hope to feed off home crowds at a familiar venue, while Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul, Sweden’s Linn Grant and Canada’s Brooke Henderson are also expected to contend for medals. Australia’s Minjee Lee will make her third Olympic golf appearance just one week after her younger brother, the PGA Tour’s Min Woo Lee, made his debut in the men’s competition. The field includes 12 of the top 15 players in the Rolex Women’s Golf Rankings, including all of the top seven.
Schedule
The first round of the women’s stroke play event will be played on Wednesday starting at 9 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET). The second, third and fourth rounds will begin at the same time, with Saturday’s final round extending until 12:30 p.m. ET for the live medal ceremony.
How to watch
TV: Golf Channel in the U.S. BBC Sport in the U.K.
Streaming: Peacock in the U.S. BBC Sport in the U.K.
Who’s on Team USA?
Nelly Korda leads Team USA as the world No. 1 and a 14-time LPGA winner. Korda, 26, will look to defend her gold medal while also regaining form ahead of the final major championship of the season, the AIG Women’s Open. Korda’s year started in thrilling fashion as she emerged victorious at five consecutive LPGA events, one being the first of the LPGA’s five majors, the Chevron Championship. Korda’s most recent tournament appearances have not been characteristic of the American star, however. She missed the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open and the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and posted a T26 finish at the Evian Championship, also hosted in France.
Lilia Vu, the No. 2 ranked player in the world, is another strong favorite for the gold. Vu was sidelined with a back injury for the majority of the LPGA season, preventing her from defending her stunningly victorious 2023 season. She won four times, including two majors: the Chevron and Women’s Open. But in Vu’s first start back from her injury in June, she hoisted the trophy. She won the Meijer LPGA Classic in a playoff against Grace Kim and Lexi Thompson for her fifth victory on tour.
Stanford product Rose Zhang rounds out the Team USA women’s golf representation. Zhang, 21, was considered one of the greatest female amateur golfers of all time before she turned professional and quickly skyrocketed up the ranks. She won in her LPGA debut, and grabbed her second win a year later at the Cognizant Founders Cup. The Southern California native is currently ranked No. 9 in the world.
Key Storylines
All eyes will be on Korda as she returns to the competitive stage after a string of disappointing performances in her past four appearances on the LPGA Tour, two of which includes scores of 80 or higher at two of the last three majors. Heading into the Open at St. Andrews, Korda will look to create some momentum and pick up where she left her game earlier in the season. A defense of her Olympic gold would be the perfect way to bottle up some positive energy in advance of Scotland.
The Solheim Cup is fast approaching and the Olympics will be an indicator for how the Americans and Europeans are shaping up as the team competition looms. Twelve Americans and twelve Europeans will head to Washington D.C. in September for the 2024 match play competition at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. Korda, Vu and Zhang will all appear on the U.S. team. Great Britain’s Charley Hull, Sweden’s Linn Grant, Boutier, Sweden’s Maja Stark, Ireland’s Leona Maguire, Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, Great Britain’s Georgia Hall and Germany’s Esther Henseleit are all Olympics contenders who are currently within the European Team qualification threshold.
Tee Times
9:00 a.m./10:55 a.m. — Perrine Delacour (France), Stephanie Meadow (Ireland), Manon de Roey (Belgium)
9:11 a.m./11:06 a.m. — Pei-yun Chien (Chinese Taipei), Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Denmark), Anne van Dam (Netherlands)
9:22 a.m./11:17 a.m. — Aditi Ashok (India), Gaby Lopez (Mexico), Esther Henseleit (Germany)
9:33 a.m./11:33 a.m. — Shannon Tan (Singapore), Maria Fassi (Mexico), Celine Borge (Norway)
9:44 a.m./11:44 a.m. — Hannah Green (Australia), Charley Hull (Great Britain), Rose Zhang (USA)
9:55 a.m./11:55 a.m. — Nelly Korda (USA), Jin Young Ko (South Korea), Ruoning Yin (China)
10:11 a.m./12:06 p.m. — Hyo Joo Kim (South Korea), Brooke Henderson (Canada), Xiyu Janet Lin (China)
10:22 a.m./12:17 p.m. — Patty Tavatanakit (Thailand), Linn Grant (Sweden), Carlota Ciganda (Spain)
10:33 a.m./12:28 p.m. — Alessandra Fanali (Italy), Ashley Lau (Malaysia), Ursula Wikstrom (Finland)
10:44 a.m./12:39 p.m. — Dottie Ardina (Philippines), Noora Komulainen (Finland), Madelene Stavnar (Norway)
10:55 a.m./9:00 a.m. — Wei-Ling Hsu (Chinese Taipei), Diksha Dagar (India), Emma Spitz (Austria)
11:06 a.m./9:11 a.m. — Azahara Munoz (Spain), Bianca Pagdanganan (Philippines), Morgane Metraux (Switzerland)
11:17 a.m./9:22 a.m. — Alexandra Forsterling (Germany), Albane Valenzuela (Switzerland), Emily Kristine Pedersen (Denmark)
11:33 a.m./9:33 a.m. — Klara Davidson Spilkova (Czech Republic), Paula Reto (South Africa), Mariajo Uribe (Colombia)
11:44 a.m./9:44 a.m. — Yuka Saso (Japan), Minjee Lee (Australia), Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand)
11:55 a.m./9:55 a.m. — Celine Boutier (France), Lilia Vu (USA), Amy Yang (South South Korea)
12:06 p.m./10:11 a.m. — Lydia Ko (New Zealand), Miyu Yamashita (Japan), Maja Stark (Sweden)
12:17 p.m./10:22 a.m. — Leona Maguire (Ireland), Georgia Hall (Great Britain), Ashleigh Buhai (South Africa)
12:28 p.m./10:33 a.m. — Ana Belac (Slovenia), Sara Kouskova (Czech Republic), Alena Sharp (Canada)
12:39 p.m./10:44 a.m. — Ines Laklalech (Morocco), Sarah Schober (Austria), Pia Babnik (Slovenia)
(Photo of Korda: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
