Qualifying term for Olympic golf events extended up to June 2021

By Rahul Banerji

With the corona-virus pandemic pushing the Tokyo Olympic Games back by a year, there will be a new set of qualifying dates for the golf medals in Japan next year.

On Wednesday, the International Golf Federation and International Olympic Committee said an adjustment would be made to the qualifying system to accommodate the competition next year.

Golfers now will accumulate Olympic Golf Rankings (OGR) points up to June 21, 2021 for the men and June 28, 2021 for the women. The field for both competitions will consist of 60 players.

For India, this means that Rashid Khan and Udayan Mane, who had effectively sealed their Olympic berths had the Tokyo Games been on track, go back into the qualifying race.

On the women’s side, it is difficult to look past Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar, who are well ahead of other contenders.

Holding an edge

With the OGR based on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for men and the Women’s World Golf Rankings (WWGR), it depends now which tours resume early, giving their participants chances to accrue points.

The PGA Tour looks set to be the first off the blocks, with its first event scheduled for the second week of June in Texas.

On March 20, the governing boards of the OWGR and WWGR determined the rankings would be suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

An announcement about the resumption of each respective ranking is also expected over the next few weeks, the IGF said in a statement.

The IGF’s announcement followed the decision to postpone the Olympic Games and its subsequent release of the revised principles for Olympic qualification earlier this month (April 2). That included relaxation of the maximum two-year period and amendments to the qualification deadlines.

The IGF revised the dates within the current qualification system to reflect these new dates and submitted the revised version to the IOC Qualification taskforce for approval.

‘Fairest method’

“Having received from the IOC confirmation of the dates for when the Tokyo Games will be held and the qualification principles, the fairest and most equitable way to determine the qualifying athletes was to align the previous qualification system with these new dates,” said IGF executive director Antony Scanlon.

“We are pleased that the IOC swiftly approved these changes to provide clarity on this important area.

“The IGF will continue to work closely with the IOC and Tokyo 2020 to address the other areas that the postponement of the Games affects our sport and our athletes, to develop the necessary plans to resolve these.

“We remain fully committed to providing safe and fair golf competitions and a memorable experience for our athletes when these Olympic Games are held in 2021.”

Points system

The OGR is calculated as follows: Each tournament earns a strength-of-field rating which determines how many ranking points will be awarded to top finishers. 

Points are awarded to players based on their finish positions in each event, with performances in stronger-field events earning more points in accordance with a distribution table approved by the IGF.

With the revision, ranking points for each player accumulate over a multi-year rolling period with the points awarded in the most recent 13-week period weighted at 100 percent of their original value.

After the initial 13-week period, points are devalued by 1.1 percent for each of the next 91 weeks (during which the ranking was not suspended) before they drop entirely off the player’s record.

Each player is then ranked according to his/her average number of points, which is determined by dividing the total number of ranking points she/he has earned by the number of tournaments in which she/he has played during that period.

Minimum requirement

There is a minimum divisor of 35 events for the Women’s OGR while for the Men’s OGR, there is a minimum divisor of 40 events and a maximum divisor of 52 events.

In the event of ties at any of the 60 starting positions, the ties will be broken by the following criteria, in order:

• Total OWGR points earned in the most recent 52-week period, ending with the Olympic Golf Ranking as of June 21, 2021 for the men and June 28, 2021 for the women.

• Total OWGR points earned in the most recent 13-week period, ending with the Olympic Golf Ranking as of June 21, 2021 for men and June 28 for women.

The top 15 players at the end of the qualifying period will be eligible for the Olympics, with a limit of four players from a given country.

Beyond the top 15, players will be eligible based on the world rankings, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top-15.

The host country will be guaranteed a spot, as will each of the five continental regions, the IGF added.

Also read: Covid cloud over Olympics: Tokyo Games now in 2021