Golf was played at the 1900 Olympic games, and George Sands and Margret Abbott won medals. However, after the 1904 Games, gold wasn’t played at the Olympics again until 2016. Here are the players who have medaled since then.
2016 Olympic Games
Golf returned during the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Players worldwide competed, with the United States sending the largest contingent, although several players opted out over concerns about the Zika virus. A course was built specifically for Brazil games and would become a public course afterward.
2016 – Bronze Medal – Women’s Golf – Shanshan Feng
A player from Guangzhou, Shanshan Feng, became the first male or female player from mainland China to win a major championship at the 2012 PGA Championship. She finished the 2016 Games six shots behind the leader, but well enough to take home a bronze.
2016 – Bronze Medal – Men’s Golf – Matt Kuchar
Matt Kuchar was playing great golf going into the 2016 Olympic Games, making nine top tens in the runup to the tournament. Kuchar began the final round behind but made his way onto the medal stand with a 63, earning a bronze.
2016 – Silver Medal – Women’s Golf – Lydia Ko
Lydia Ko was only 19 years-old at the time of the 2016 Olympics, but she already had won a major, the 2015 Evian Championships. She added another impressive item to her resume in 2016 by winning the Silver Medal at the Rio Olympics.
2016 – Silver Medal – Men’s Golf – Henrik Stenson
2016 was a heck of a year for star Swedish golfer Henrik Stenson. He won his only major championship to date, the Open Championship, played at Royal Troon. He also added an Olympic medal to his trophy case, taking silver at the 2016 games.
2016 – Gold Medal – Womens Golf – Inbee Park
A golfing prodigy, Inbee Park was inducted to the LPGA Hall of Fame in 2016 when she was only 28 years-old. That is not to say that her resume isn’t astonishing. She has won seven major titles during her career and also captured an Olympic gold at the Rio games.
2016 – Golf Medal – Men’s Golf – Justin Rose
Justin Rose made waves early on at the 2016 games by becoming the first player in Olympic history to record a hole in one. It would be a sign of things to come for the Rose as he would go on to beat out Henrik Stenson to win Olympic gold.
2020 Olympic Games
The 2020 Olympics were held in Tokyo, Japan (in 2021), and the tournaments were held at the Kasumigaseki Golf Club. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the protocols in place, the golf was played to an empty course with no spectators.
2020 – Bronze Medal – Women’s Golf – Lydia Ko
Lydia Ko was just 19 when she won silver at the 2016 Olympics. She was an established star by the time the 2020 games came along. She would keep the momentum going after winning a bronze in Tokyo, as she won the Vare Trophy in 2021 and 2022.
2020 – Bronze Medal – Men’s Golf – C.T. Pan
C.T. Pan made waves in 2019, winning the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head. The victory made him the second Taiwan-born golfer to win a PGA Tour event. He had to work hard to win the bronze in 2020, beating six other golfers in a playoff.
2020 – Silver Medal – Women’s Golf – Mone Inami
Mone Inami has won 13 events on the LPGA of Japan Tour, but her most memorable career moment likely came at the 2020 Olympics. After shooting a 65 in the final round, she was able to dispatch Lydia Ko in a sudden-death playoff to capture the silver medal.
2020 – Silver Medal – Men’s Golf – Rory Sabbatini
Rory Sabbatini was born and raised in South Africa but changed his citizenship to Slovakia in 2018. He would represent Slovakia in 2020 and made his home country proud by winning the silver medal in the men’s golf tournament.
2020 – Gold Medal – Women’s Golf – Nelly Korda
Nelly Korda was well on her way to golf stardom in 2020, but she showed the world just how successful she was going to be by winning the gold medal in Tokyo. Since her win, Korda has continued to shine, winning the PGA Championship in 2021 and the Chevron Championship in 2024.
2020 – Gold Medal – Men’s Golf – Xander Schauffele
Xander Schauffele had played some great golf before the 2020 games but hadn’t yet broken through at a major event. While not a golf major, the Olympics were a huge stage for Schauffele, and he portended his future stardom with a gold win.
2024 Olympic Games
Things were back to normal for the 2024 Olympic Games, which were held in Paris, France. The men’s and women’s tournaments were held at the Le Golf National at Guyancourt, a regular site for the European’ Tour’s Open de France.
2024 – Bronze Medal – Women’s Golf – Xi Yu Lin
Chinese player Xi Yu Lin has won three events on the Ladies European Tour and two events on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour, but her biggest career moment certainly came at the 2024 Olympics when she came in 3rd and took home bronze.
2024 – Bronze Medal – Men’s Golf – Hideki Matsuyama
Hideki Matsuyama has spent time on both the Japan and PGA Tour and he became known to much of the golf world when he won the 2021 Masters. Matsuyama has continued to win regularly on the PGA Tour since then and added a bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics.
2024 – Silver Medal – Women’s Golf – Esther Henseleit
Esther Henseleit is a rising star in the women’s game who joined the LPGA in 2020 and she had top ten finished at both the Chevron and Evian Championships in 2024. But her best performance of the year came when she won the silver medal at the Paris games.
2024 – Silver Medal – Men’s Golf – Tommy Fleetwood
Tommy Fleetwood is a terrific British player who came in second place at the 2018 U.S. Open and the 2019 Open Championship. Fleetwood again came in second at the 2014 Olmypic Games, but this time he received a silver medal.
2024 – Gold Medal – Women’s Golf – Lydia Ko
Lydia Ko had medaled twice before at the Olympics, winning a silver medal at the 2016 games and a bronze medal at the 2020 games. After coming so close in the previous two Olympics, Ko won the Gold in Paris in 2024.
2024 – Gold Medal – Men’s Golf – Scottie Scheffler
Who else could it have been than Scottie Scheffler. He had as good a year in 2024 as any player in recent memory. His gold medal was the cherry on top of a year that also saw wins at the Masters, the Player’s Championship and the Tour Championship.
