Despite Jon Rahm’s demands for change, Scottie Scheffler has stated that he is in favour of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) being used as the qualification system for the men’s Olympic golf competition.
Xander Schauffele, Colin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, and Scheffler are the four American golf stars competing at Le Golf National this week. The best players from each country as determined by the world rankings currently compete in the Olympic tournament.
Because Scheffler, Schauffele, Morikawa, and Clark are all ranked in the top-10 in the world and are therefore automatically eligible, Team USA is the only squad with four players competing.
Given LIV Golf’s ongoing problems with the rankings, many have criticised the choice to base the event’s field on the OWGR list. Several well-known players have seen their names fall in the global rankings as a result of LIV events happening in the absence of OWGR points.
Players like Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, and Bryson DeChambeau have missed out this week as a result of this. Nevertheless, Scheffler thinks that using the rankings—as opposed to a selection committee procedure—is a fair way to put together each team. After the first round on Thursday, he said, “I mean, I think it’s wonderful having a very uniform rating system for how you can choose the team.”
The golf industry is aflutter with pros debating how to choose their teams. Scheffler went on, “I think having a selection committee choose teams makes it a little more objective. In the majority of our team competitions, there are guys who can automatically qualify and others who are selected. Sometimes we held amateur golf events when the entire field was selected.
“I support a standard system where you are aware of your status when applying, just as it is currently. It’s quite difficult to make the squad as a US citizen, even if there is a committee to choose the final few seats. We are all in the top 15 globally, so you have four men, which is still the hardest squad to assemble.”
Scheffler Scottie
Regarding international competition, he thought, “It’s difficult to select the top four every year, but the field for this event would look a lot different if we could bring all of our finest players.” It would also increase our chances of winning more gold.
Spanish players Rahm and Puig, who are rising stars in LIV Golf, have also offered their opinions. Rahm intervened to suggest giving nations more discretion in choosing their representatives, saying, “Let the countries decide themselves,” and citing the latitude enjoyed by other sports, saying, “There needs to be some criteria, but Team USA basketball has freedom to choose anybody they want.”
“I know it’s a different case, but I think you need to allow each country choose who they want to play,” said golf star Rahm with emotion.
Following their respective rounds of four-under-par 67 on the first day in Paris on Thursday, Rahm and Scheffler found themselves tied for sixth place.
Leave a Reply