Golf has only been in the Olympics for the last three iterations, following a century-plus absence. But the 2024 Paris Games could be considered the sport's true indoctrination.
The players — that being, the top men players — finally bought in. The fans showed out. And two future Hall of Fame members won gold.
Well, make that one future HOF'er.
Scottie Scheffler and Lydia Ko are separated by less than one year in age. In some ways, it's hard to believe as Ko has been winning LPGA events since before Scheffler started college.
Scheffler, 28, often draws comparisons to Nelly Korda. They are both world No. 1s, both won the year's first major on their respective tours and both have dominated said tours. But Scheffler and Ko, 27, winning gold at Le Golf National feels satisfyingly appropriate. This isn't to speak on the nature of anyone else, just to say that Scheffler and Ko are both genuinely kind and humble people. They are positive representatives of the sport — which was on full display for the world — and worthy champions. And one of them is now a current, not future Hall of Famer.
| Medal | Men's | Women's |
| 🥇 | Scottie Scheffler (USA) | Lydia Ko (NZL) |
| 🥈 | Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) | Esther Henseleit (GER) |
| 🥉 | Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) | Xiyu Lin (CHN) |
Olympic men's golf recap: Scottie Scheffler seizes gold
The competition began Thursday, Aug. 1, with thousands of French faithful singing "La Marseillaise" as one of their own, Victor Perez, struck the first shot. A "once-in-a-lifetime" experience, Perez said that afternoon.
He had no idea what awaited on Sunday.
Three rounds built to a climactic finish, one that was expected to be determined by the final threesome of Xander Schauffele (USA), Jon Rahm (ESP) and Tommy Fleetwood (GBR). Schauffele, the defending gold medalist and a two-time major winner in 2024, was a surprising non-factor for much of the finale and played his way off the podium.
Gold was Rahm's, or so it seemed. The Spaniard made six birdies in an eight-hole stretch and led by four with eight holes to play. That he finished without a medal of any color wasn't a surprise, like it was for Schauffele; it was incomprehensible. Rahm made four bogeys and a double bogey coming home to tie for fifth, alongside Rory McIlroy (IRE), who made five straight birdies on the back-nine before his own crushing double.
The Ryder Cup teammates were both awash in emotion afterwards; one in shock, the other in awe.
And then there was whatever Perez experienced — something only the Olympics can offer and, even more refined, something performing your best before a home crowd can allow. The 31-year-old Frenchman shot 63, making a spirited back-nine run to the overwhelming approval of the Le Golf National fans.
It was one shot shy of a medal, which would have been the only thing to make the occasion more special.
Those medals went to three players with their own storylines: the Japanese player trying to atone for a near miss in Tokyo; the Great Britain player looking for a signature win against the game best; the American just trying to have fun.
The latter was Scheffler's stated goal, at least publicly. Privately, he had to be wanting another opportunity assert his dominance. There was chatter that his historic season might not be good enough to earn him PGA Tour Player of the Year honors. He silenced that noise on Sunday outside Paris. Starting the day four off the lead, he began the final round with three straight birdies, stalled, and then streaked to the finish line. Scheffler played the back nine in 29 for a 9-under 62 and a one-shot victory.
Scheffler had his fun; he had his gold.
Olympic women's golf recap: Lydia Ko's perfect ending
Lydia Ko was asked on Sunday, as the men were playing their final round, what winning a gold medal would mean to her. People knew what it would literally mean: that she'd have all three medals, having won silver in the 2016 Rio Games and bronze in the 2020 Tokyo Games; that she'd have the final point needed for LPGA Hall of Fame inclusion. What would it mean to her, though? Enough for her to go so far as to delete the social media accounts off her phone so she wasn't distracted from the task at hand.
The women's competition, which began three days after the men's concluded, could have played out any number of ways. After three days, there was an unsung co-leader in Switzerland's Morgane Metraux. There was Nelly Korda lurking. There was mixed bag of international contenders.
And there was Ko.
Ko was tied with Metraux through 54 holes. After her third round, the Kiwi talked about how she had watched Simone Biles' documentary the night before and how it had inspired her to the point of writing down some of Biles' quotes in her yardage book, none more profound than this: "Write my own ending."
Ko has long talked about retiring at age 30, but her mentioning this particular quote didn't feel as if she was foreshadowing a walkoff win. Rather, it felt like she was sharing the desire of every athlete — to control their own destiny.
As it would happen, the women's event was in Ko's hands early in the final round. Metraux, the world No. 137, was overwhelmed. World No. 1 Korda made a shadow appearance for a medal but vanished in the water surrounding the 15th green.
The biggest battle was for silver and bronze, earned by Germany's Esther Henseleit and China's Xiyu Lin, respectively.
That's not actually true; the biggest battle was between Ko and herself. She had a five-shot lead on the back nine and saw it dwindle to one ... solitary ... stroke. The nerves were so wretched that she admitted afterwards that she hopes to never have to endure such again.
Ko, of course, got the job done. She even birdied the last to win by two. There was no wild plot twist in the end, no epic heartbreak. It was, as Ko said, "a storytale." Maybe she meant "storybook," maybe she meant "fairytale."
Whatever, it was hers to write.