What Rio Olympic golf fields would look like with year-end rankings

By Nick ZaccardiDec 29, 2014, 4:53 PM EST

The Rio Olympic golf fields won’t be determined until July 2016, but it’s always fun to project.

The men’s and women’s fields are set to include a maximum of 60 players each. Everybody in the top 15 of the world rankings come July 2016 will be eligible, up to four per country.

After that, the fields will be filled by the next highest-ranked players with a maximum of two players per nation.

World golf rankings are made up of a two-year window of players’ results, weighing recent results and bigger tournaments more heavily. Therefore, the rankings in July 2016, from which the Olympic fields will be determined, will mostly include yet-to-be-played tournament results.

Tiger Woods would not make the Olympic golf field if the current, year-end rankings hold. He is No. 32, down from No. 1 one year ago and 17th among Americans. It is his lowest ranking since Nov. 26, 2011.

Woods is the first player to drop outside the top 20 after being year-end No. 1 the previous year. The Official World Golf Ranking debuted in 1986.

Phil Mickelson (No. 14, seventh among Americans), Ernie Els (No. 63, fourth among South Africans) and the British trio of Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Luke Donald would also NOT qualify.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, who turns 51 on Jan. 5, would make it. As would Fiji’s Vijay Singh, barely, as the 57th out of 60 golfers. Singh turns 52 on Feb. 22.

Singh and top-ranked Rory McIlroy are the only players with more than two major championships who would make the field off today’s rankings.

The last player to make the men’s field under today’s rankings would be Colombian Marcelo Rozo, who is No. 366 in the world.

The last player to make the women’s field would be Indian Gauri Monga, who is No. 447. There are 137 South Korean women ranked ahead of Monga.

Brazil is guaranteed at least one spot in the men’s and women’s fields, so the lowest-ranked women’s player is currently Brazilian Miriam Nagl, who is No. 570.

Here’s what the men’s and women’s fields would look like if using the year-end 2014 rankings:

Men
1. Rory McIlroy (IRL)
2. Henrik Stenson (SWE)
3. Adam Scott (AUS)
4. Bubba Watson (USA)
5. Sergio Garcia (ESP)
6. Justin Rose (GBR)
7. Jim Furyk (USA)
8. Jason Day (AUS)
9. Jordan Spieth (USA)
10. Rickie Fowler (USA)
11. Martin Kaymer (GER)
12. Graeme McDowell (IRL)
13. Hideki Matsuyama (JPN)
14. Victor Dubuisson (FRA)
15. Jamie Donaldson (GBR)
16. Joost Luiten (NED)
17. Charl Schwartzel (RSA)
18. Thomas Bjorn (DEN)
19. Thongchai Jaidee (THA)
20. Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP)
21. Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)
22. Mikko Ilonen (FIN)
23. Alexander Levy (FRA)
24. Francesco Molinari (ITA)
25. Koumei Oda (JPN)
26. Graham Delaet (CAN)
27. Jonas Blixt (SWE)
28. Marcel Siem (GER)
29. Anirban Lahiri (IND)
30. Bernd Wiesberger (AUT)
31. Angel Cabrera (ARG)
32. Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN)
33. Brendon de Jonge (ZIM)
34. Bae Song-moon (KOR)
35. Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)
36. Edoardo Molinari (ITA)
37. Noh Seung-yul (KOR)
38. David Hearn (CAN)
39. Emiliano Grillo (ARG)
40. Prom Meesawat (THA)
41. Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL)
42. Carlos Ortiz (MEX)
43. Camilo Villegas (COL)
44. Antonio Lascuna (PHI)
45. Felipe Aguilar (CHI)
46. Liang Wen-chong (CHN)
47. Wu Ashun (CHN)
48. Rashid Khan (IND)
49. Robert-Jan Derksen (NED)
50. Danny Lee (NZL)
51. Angelo Que (PHI)
52. Siddikur Rahman (BAN)
53. Thomas Pieters (BEL)
54. Mark Tullo (CHI)
55. Chan Shih-chang (TPE)
56. Ryan Fox (NZL)
57. Vijay Singh (FIJ)
58. Jhonattan Vegas (VEN)
59. Adison da Silva (BRA)
60. Marcelo Rozo (COL)

Women
1. Inbee Park (KOR)
2. Lydia Ko (NZL)
3. Stacy Lewis (USA)
4. Suzann Pettersen (NOR)
5. Shanshan Feng (CHN)
6. Michelle Wie (USA)
7. So Yeon Ryu (KOR)
8. Hyo-Joo Kim (KOR)
9. Karrie Webb (AUS)
10. Lexi Thompson (USA)
11. Kyu Jung Baek (KOR)
12. Anna Nordqvist (SWE)
13. Cristie Kerr (USA)
14. Azahara Munoz (ESP)
15. Pomanong Phatlum (THA)
16. Catriona Matthew (GBR)
17. Lee-Anne Pace (RSA)
18. Teresa Lu (TPE)
19. Julieta Granada (PAR)
20. Charley Hull (GBR)
21. Shiho Oyama (JPN)
22. Karine Icher (FRA)
23. Carlota Ciganda (ESP)
24. Sakura Yokomine (JPN)
25. Sandra Gal (GER)
26. Caroline Masson (GER)
27. Caroline Hedwall (SWE)
28. Gwladys Nocera (FRA)
29. Line Hansen (DEN)
30. Minjee Lee (AUS)
31. Xiyu Lin (CHN)
32. Yani Tseng (TPE)
33. Mariajo Uribe (COL)
34. Stephanie Meadow (IRL)
35. Onnarin Sattayabanphot (THA)
36. Dewi Schreefel (NED)
37. Stacy Bregman (RSA)
38. Malene Jorgensen (DEN)
39. Giulia Sergas (ITA)
40. Christel Boeljon (NED)
41. Klara Spilkova (CZE)
42. Diana Luna (ITA)
43. Jennifer Rosales (PHI)
44. Brooke Henderson (CAN)
45. Alejandra Llaneza (MEX)
46. Kelly Tan (MAS)
47. Lisa McCloskey (COL)
48. Maria Balikoeva (RUS)
49. Alena Sharp (CAN)
50. Paz Echeverria (CHI)
51. Fabienne In-Albon (SUI)
52. Noora Tamminen (FIN)
53. Minea Blomqvist (FIN)
54. Marianne Skapnord (NOR)
55. Veronica Felilbert (VEN)
56. Christine Wolf (AUT)
57. Chloe Leurquin (BEL)
58. Margarita Ramos (MEX)
59. Gauri Monga (IND)
60. Miriam Nagl (BRA)

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French Open: Iga Swiatek rolls toward possible Coco Gauff rematch

By OlympicTalkJun 1, 2023, 11:06 AM EDT

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Iga Swiatek reached the French Open third round without dropping a set, eyeing a third Roland Garros title in four years. Not that she needed the help, but Swiatek’s immediate draw is wide open after the rest of the seeds in her section lost.

Swiatek dispatched 102nd-ranked American Claire Liu 6-4, 6-0 on Thursday, the same score as her first-round win. She gets 80th-ranked Wang Xinyu of China in the round of 32.

The other three seeds in Swiatek’s section all lost in the first round, so the earliest that the world No. 1 could play another seed is the quarterfinals. And that would be No. 6 Coco Gauff, who was runner-up to Swiatek last year.

Gauff plays her second-round match later Thursday against 61st-ranked Austrian Julia Grabher. Gauff also doesn’t have any seeds in her way before a possible Swiatek showdown.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Swiatek, who turned 22 on Wednesday, came into this year’s French Open without the invincibility of a year ago, when she was 16-0 in the spring clay season during an overall 37-match win streak.

She retired from her last pre-French Open match with a right thigh injury, but said it wasn’t serious. That diagnosis appears to have been spot-on through two matches this week, though her serve was broken twice in the first set of each match.

While the men’s draw has been upended by 14-time champion Rafael Nadal‘s pre-event withdrawal and No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev‘s loss in the first round, the top women have taken care of business.

Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, American Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan also reached the third round without dropping a set.

Though all of them have beaten Swiatek in 2023, the Pole remains the favorite to lift the trophy a week from Saturday. She can join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win three or more French Opens since 2000.

She can also become the youngest woman to win three French Opens since Monica Seles in 1992 and the youngest woman to win four Slams overall since Williams in 2002.

Swiatek doesn’t dwell on it.

“I never even played Serena or Monica Seles,” she said. “I’m kind of living my own life and having my own journey.”

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Penny Oleksiak to miss world swimming championships

By OlympicTalkJun 1, 2023, 10:11 AM EDT

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Seven-time Olympic medalist Penny Oleksiak of Canada will miss July’s world swimming championships because she does not expect to be recovered enough from knee and shoulder injuries.

“The bar that we set was, can she be as good as she’s ever been at these world championships?” coach Ryan Mallette said in a press release. “We just don’t feel like we’re going to be ready to be 100 percent yet this summer. Our focus is to get her back to 100 percent as soon as possible to get ready for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”

Oleksiak, who owns the Canadian record of seven Olympic medals (across all sports), missed Canada’s trials meet for worlds two months ago due to the injuries. She was still named to the team at the time in hope that she would be ready in time for worlds.

The 22-year-old returned to competition last month at a Mare Nostrum meet in Barcelona, after which she chose to focus on continued rehab rather than compete at worlds in Fukuoka, Japan.

“Swimming at Mare Nostrum was a checkpoint for worlds, and I gave it my best shot,” Oleksiak said in the release. “We reviewed my swims there, and it showed me the level I want to get back to. Now I need to focus on my rehab to get back to where I want to be and put myself in position to be at my best next season.”

Oleksiak had knee surgery last year to repair a meniscus. After that, she developed a left shoulder injury.

In 2016, Oleksiak tied for Olympic 100m freestyle gold with American Simone Manuel. She also earned 100m butterfly silver in Rio and 200m free bronze in Tokyo, along with four relay medals between those two Games.

At last year’s worlds, she earned four relay medals and placed fourth in the 100m free.

She anchored the Canadian 4x100m free relay to silver behind Australia at the most recent Olympics and worlds.

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