Olympic golf at Tokyo 2020: Top five things to know

Golf is one of 33 sports at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, taking place in 2021.

Who are the athletes to watch? When will the competition take place and where will it be held?

Ever wanted to know about sport's Olympic history?

Look no further. Here is our guide to the top things to know about Olympic golf.

Top Olympic golfers at Tokyo 2020

Two nations dominate the world of golf in the lead-up to the Olympics in 2021 - the United States for men and the Republic of Korea for women.

With a maximum of four players per country teeing it up in Tokyo, the race for places is intense, to say the least.

More than half of the men's top 20 players are American, but 2020 Masters winner Dustin Johnson eventually opted to skip the event.

This year's PLAYERS Championship winner Justin Thomas is the top-ranked American going to Japan and he will be joined by Open champion Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, and last year's US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.

Four-time major winner Brooks Koepka was unable to climb the rankings sufficiently after knee surgery in March with Tiger Woods also absent.

The 45-year-old produced a comeback story for the ages by ending his 11-year major drought with a memorable triumph at the Masters in 2019.

But a high-speed car crash in California in February saw him break bones in both legs, and it is not known when he'll return to competitive golf.

Justin Rose will not defend his title in Tokyo despite a strong showing in the Masters where he finished seventh behind Japan's first male major winner Matsuyama Hideki.

The Great Britain men's team comprises Paul Casey and Tommy Fleetwood with Tyrrell Hatton, Matthew Fitzpatrick and the resurgent Lee Westwood all turning down the opportunity to compete.

Matsuyama will lead the home challenge with Hoshino Rikuya joining him in the field.

Spain's Jon Rahm was the world number one at the Olympic cut-off date following his first major triumph at the US Open.

One of the longest hitters in the game, the Basque golfer won two PGA Tour events in 2020 including victory over Johnson in a playoff at August's BMW Championship thanks to an outrageous monster birdie putt.

Rahm, who became a father in April, was robbed of an almost certain victory at the Memorial Tournament in June when he was notified of a positive Covid test after leading by six shots through 54 holes.

Two weeks later, he bounced back in the best way possible with two closing birdies at Torrey Pines to join Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia as Spanish major winners.

Koreans account for eight of the top 20 in the women's world rankings, including three of the top four - Ko Jin-young, reigning Olympic champion Inbee Park, and Kim Sei-young.

After spending most of 2020 at home in Korea, Ko showed why she is among the world's best with victory in the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship after finishing tied for second behind Kim A-lim in Houston.

Ko, 25, had her breakout season in 2019 as she claimed her first LPGA Tour wins in North America and secured two major titles, the ANA Inspiration and the Evian Championship.

Kim Sei-young also booked her place in Tokyo after a stellar 2020 in which she shed her tag of 'best player without a major title' at the Women's PGA Championship in suburban Philadelphia.

Like a certain Tiger Woods, she insists on wearing red for the final round, although in her case it's the bottom half rather than the top.

She also likes to listen to KPOP stars BTS to get her going during tournaments, and was tied for third at the ANA Inspiration before sharing second place at the Lotte Championship.

Park started 2021 in superb style with a five-stroke victory in March's KIA Classic in San Diego.

The following week, she and Kim were tied for seventh in the first major of the year, the ANA Inspiration, behind Thailand's surprise victor Patty Tavatanakit.

Already assured of Hall of Fame status, 32-year-old Park remains keen to add to her tally of seven majors and one Olympic gold achieved on golf's return at Rio 2016.

Outside of Korea, the United States is the strongest nation in women's golf with Nelly Korda vaulting to the top of the world rankings thanks to her victory in June's Women's PGA Championship.

Korda and elder sister Jessica, both daughters of former Australian Open tennis champion Petr Korda, are both going to Tokyo although tennis-playing brother Sebastian has opted to stay at home to focus on preparation for the US Open.

Fifth-ranked Danielle Kang and Rio Olympian Lexi Thompson complete the four-strong American team.

At just 21, Tavatanakit will make her Olympic debut in Tokyo after her ANA Inspiration success propelled her up the rankings from 103 to 13.

She will be joined by two-time major winner Ariya Jutanugarn.

Koreans won three of 2020's four majors - after the Evian Championship was cancelled - with Germany's Sophia Popov a shock winner of the Women's British Open.

Popov, who told LPGA.com that she had struggled with the tick-borne Lyme Disease for several years, will appear in Tokyo with Rio 2016 Olympian Caroline Masson also representing Germany in the 60-strong field.

New Zealand's former world number one Lydia Ko had her first LPGA Tour win for three years at April's Lotte Championship in Hawaii.

Ko dropped outside the top 50 last August, but the 24-year-old looks back to her best having backed up her second place at the ANA Inspiration - her best major result for four years - with that Hawaii triumph.

Olympic golf competition format at Tokyo 2020

The men's and women's golf tournaments at Tokyo 2020 are both 72-hole individual stroke play events taking place over four rounds on four consecutive days.

There are 60 players in each competition with no halfway elimination or cut.

For the last two rounds, the players go out in scoreboard order with the leaders teeing off in the final group.

If players in medal places are tied after 72 holes, a three-hole playoff will decide the medallists before potentially sudden death.

Olympic golf schedule at Tokyo 2020

The golf events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021 take place from 29th July to 7th August. The men's event is 29th July to 1st August, with the women's competition 4-7 August.

Men's competition:

• 29 July - Men's Individual Stroke Play Round 1
• 30 July - Men's Individual Stroke Play Round 2
• 31 July - Men's Individual Stroke Play Round 3
• 1 August - Men's Individual Stroke Play Round 4

Women's competition:

• 4 August - Women's Individual Stroke Play Round 1
• 5 August - Women's Individual Stroke Play Round 2
• 6 August - Women's Individual Stroke Play Round 3
• 7 August - Women's Individual Stroke Play Round 4

Olympic golf venue at Tokyo 2020

Golf at Tokyo 2020 will be held on the East Course of the Kasumigaseki Country Club, a private club in Saitama 50km north-west of Tokyo.

It was founded in 1929 and hosted the Golf World Cup (then called the Canada Cup) in 1957, the first time Japan had staged the event.

The East Course was redesigned and lengthened in 2016 to present a greater test to the best golfers in the world.

In March 2017, the club decided to accept women members having been told by the IOC that failure to do so would see the tournament moved to an alternative venue.

That November, US President Trump played golf at Kasumigaseki with Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

Olympic golf history

The Tokyo 2020 Games will be the fourth Olympic golf tournament.

The sport missed the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 but it was included four years later in Paris.

The men's tournament was a 36-hole stroke play event with the women's played over just nine holes on the course inside the grounds of Compiègne racecourse.

Charles Sands of the United States won men's gold with rounds of 82 and 85.

Margaret Abbott, born in Calcutta, India, shot 47 to become the first American woman to win an Olympic title with her mother Mary also competing.

The 23-year-old Abbott, who was studying art in Paris under Degas and Rodin at the time, received a porcelain bowl rather than a gold medal and thought it was a regular tournament rather than the Olympic Games.

According to Team USA, it was not until long after her death in 1955 that her children were informed of her achievement.

There was no women's tournament at St Louis 1904 with golf consisting of a men's match play individual tournament - where players win, lose or halve holes rather than use total scores - and a men's team event where 10 players' 36-hole totals were tallied.

Canada's George Lyon, a former cricketer of high repute, beat American Chandler Egan 3&2 (three holes up with two to play) to take individual gold.

Egan went one better in the team event as his Western Golf Association took gold ahead of two more teams from the United States, the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association and the United States Golf Association.

That was the last of golf at the Olympic Games until its return at Rio 2016.

Justin Rose quickly made his mark with the first hole-in-one in Olympic history in his opening round on the Barra da Tijuca course.

Rose then beat Ryder Cup team-mate and 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson in a thrilling final round to take gold for Great Britain with USA's Matt Kuchar winning bronze.

The 2013 US Open champion, who is in contention for one of Britain's spots in Tokyo, said afterwards, "Oh my God, that felt better than anything I’ve ever won. It’s been the best tournament of my life."

The first women's Olympic golf tournament for 116 years was similarly enthralling.

After first-round leader Ariya Jutanugarn had to pull out through injury, Inbee Park took charge and shot a superb final round 66 to win by five strokes from New Zealand's then world number one Lydia Ko.

China's Feng Shanshan took the bronze.

Park had been suffering with an injured left thumb leading up to the tournament but came good at the right time to take gold.

The 32-year-old won just once in 2020, but a number of top-five finishes has seen her move back up to number three in the world rankings and right into contention to defend her Olympic title.