Women’s Olympics golf field is set after surprising shake-up

For the second straight week, a major championship held not just the promise of etching players’ names in the history books, but also a last ditch effort for pros to book their trip to the Olympics. First came the men, at Pinehurst, where Bryson DeChambeau’s win was close-but-not-enough to join Team USA. Second came the women, at Sahalee, where Amy Yang’s career-defining win launched her into the Olympics field. 

Yang leap-frogged from outside the qualification line to the top qualifying Korean, joining Jin Young Ko and Hyo-Joo Kim in the pursuit of gold in Paris later this summer. It also booked Korea as the only non-American country to host three players in the field. 

Team USA is led by Nelly Korda, of course, with her six wins this year on the LPGA Tour. Korda will be joined by the No. 2 player in the world, Lilia Vu, who nearly won the KPMG Women’s PGA Sunday. Rose Zhang was always going to be on this team as well, ranking 9th in the world. But the Americans were on the verge of getting a maximum four players to France if Ally Ewing had just finished two strokes higher last weekend. 

Ewing made a valiant effort by shooting 71 Sunday, but finished with a 37 on the back nine. Were that number a 35, she would have vaulted from T5 into solo second and cruised into the top 15 in the world. A maximum of four players from each country can make the Olympics, so long as they’re ranked in the top 15. Ewing’s final-nine 37 was enough to push her to 16th in the world, mere fractions of a point from donning the red, white and blue. (She will no doubt have another chance to do that later this summer at the Solheim Cup.)

Korda will look to defend her Gold medal from the 2020 Games, played in 2021, while Lydia Ko will look to be on the podium for the third time. Ko took home the Silver in 2016, in Rio, and then Bronze in 2020, in Japan. Missing from the 2024 Games will be Mone Inami, who won Silver in her home country of Japan, falling short of Korda by just a single stroke. You can find the entire list of Olympians below.

1. Nelly Korda, United States

2. Lilia Vu, United States

3. Jin Young Ko, Korea

4. Ruoning Yin, China

5. Amy Yan, Korea

6. Celine Boutier, France

7. Hannah Green, Australia

8. Charley Hull, Great Britain

9. Rose Zhang, United States

10. Yuka Saso, Japan

11. Minjee Lee, Australia

12. Atthaya Thitikul, Thailand

13. Hyo-Joo Kim, Korea

14. Brooke Henderson, Canada

15. Xiyu Lin, China

16. Lydia Ko, New Zealand

17. Miyu Yamashita

18. Maja Stark, Sweden

19. Patty Tavatanakit, Thailand

20. Linn Grant, Sweden

21. Carlota Ciganda, Spain

22. Leona Maguire, Ireland

23. Georgia Hall, Great Britain

24. Ashleigh Buhai, South Africa

25. Aditi Ashok, India

26. Gaby Lopez, Mexico

27. Esther Henseleit, Germany

28. Alexandra Forsterling, Germany

29. Albane Valenzuela, Switzerland

30. Perrine Delacour, France

31. Emily Kristine Pedersen, Denmark

32. Peiyun Chien, Chinese Taipei

33. Nanna Koerstz Madsen, Denmark

34. Anne Van Dam, Netherlands

35. Azahara Munoz, Spain

36. Bianca Pagdanganan, Philippines

37. Morgane Metraux, Switzerland

38. Stephanie Meadow, Ireland

39. Manon De Roey, Belgium

40. Wei-Ling Hsu, Chinese Taipei

41. Diksha Dagar, India

42. Emma Spitz, Austria

43. Shannon Tan, Singapore

44. Maria Fassi, Mexico 

45. Celine Borge, Norway

46. Klara Davidson Spilkova, Czech Republic

47. Paula Reto, South Africa

48. Mariajo Uribe, Colombia

49. Alessandra Fanali, Italy

50. Ashley Lau, Malaysia

51. Ursula Wikstrom, Finland

52. Ana Bela, Slovenia

53. Sara Kouskova, Czech Republic

54. Alena Sharp, Canada

55. Momoka Kobori, New Zealand

56. Dottie Ardina, Philippines 

57. Noora Komulainen, Finland

58. Dewi Weber, Netherlands

59. Madelene Stavnar, Norway

60. Ines Lakalech, Morocco