While much of the golf world was focused on the 2025 Masters, some huge news dropped involving another major golf event: the Olympics. For the first time, the next Summer Olympic Games will feature an event with men and women golfers from the LPGA and PGA Tours playing alongside each other. Here’s what we know.
On Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee released its full program of events for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and it included a huge surprise.
Amid the many events you’re familiar with were new mixed-team events featuring men and women in multiple sports. In addition to gymnastics and track and field, golf will be one of the few sports getting a mixed event.
“The mixed events are a real true embodiment of gender equality − men and women competing in the same team, on the same field of play for their country,” Kit McConnell, the IOC sports director, said in a press conference announcing the news. “We’ve seen the real success of these (mixed-team events). They bring something incredibly special for the athletes involved.”
All the golf events for the L.A. Games will be played at Riviera Country Club.
The Associated Press first reported that the Olympics were considering adding a mixed golf event back in early 2024. We didn’t learn any specifics about how the competition would actually work then. Now that the news is official, we still don’t have those details.
While we know the mixed golf event will exist alongside the current individual competitions, we don’t know how teams will be created, or how many teams will be involved. But you can start getting excited by imagining a fearsome U.S. team of Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda.
There is one existing men’s and women’s mixed event in pro golf that we can look to for context on how the Olympic event could be conducted.
At the Grant Thornton Invitational, which began in 2023, 16 teams featuring one PGA Tour and one LPGA Tour player compete in a three-round tournament. The first round is a scramble, followed by 18 holes of foursomes and then a final round under a modified four-ball format.
Jason Day and Lydia Ko triumphed at the inaugural Grant Thornton, with Jake Knapp and Patty Tavatanakit taking home the title in 2024.
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