Jon Rahm wins first career major championship at U.S. Open; new Olympic champion will be crowned at Tokyo 2020
The Spanish player became the first from his country to win the U.S Open; a new Olympic champion will be crowned in the men's golf tournament at Tokyo 2020 in 2021 as Rio 2016 medallists miss the cut. 60 players for both men's and women's tournament to be confirmed on 1 July.
Golf
With the conclusion of the US Open, which saw Spanish golfer Jon Rahm crowned the winner, the 60 players who will compete in the Olympic Golf men's tournament at the Olympic Games in 2021 took shape.
Just over a month out from the Opening Ceremony, Rahm confirmed his status as one of the favourites to medal at the Olympic Games this summer. The win in Torrey Pines saw the player win his first career major championship - and become Spain's first US Open winner - in what was a crowded leaderboard heading into the final round.
The likes of defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, four-time major champion Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka were all within in contention but as the competitors whittled down it was just Rahm and South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen left to battle it out. In the end, it was the former world no.1 who won by a stroke.
The victory came just two weeks after Rahm had to withdrawal from the Memorial PGA tournament after testing positive for COVID-19 - he left the course with a six-stroke lead.
A new Olympic champion to be crowned
There will be three new Olympic medallists in the men's golf tournament when it gets underway in just 38 days time at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar, who all stood on the podium in Rio five years ago, failed to qualify for Tokyo 2020.
While the top 60 players qualify for the Olympic Games, it's the top 15 players that earn direct qualification with a limit of four players per country that can qualify that way. After that, the remaining spots are awarded to the highest-ranked players from countries who don't already have two players qualified.
Rose, who became the first Olympic golf gold medallist since 1904, would've needed to climb more than 20 spots to pass fellow countryman Paul Casey and Matthew Fitzpatrick to clinch that second spot for Great Britain.
American Kuchar would've had a much more challenging route since he was ranked outside the top 25 Americans despite being the world no. 59. Stenson, the Rio 2016 silver medallist, is currently the first alternate for Sweden. Fellow Swede's Henrik Norlander is ranked No.134 while Alex Noren is the top ranked male golfer from the nation at 93 in the world - Stenson is No.149.
Who is going to Tokyo 2020?
Barring injury or withdrawal, the field for this summer's Olympic Games is looking to be an exciting one with an array of possible new Olympic champions.
The likes of Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, 2021 U.S. Masters champion MATSUYAMA Hideki and former world no.1 Rory McIlory all expected to make their Olympic debut.
The full list of 60 players who have qualified for the Olympic Games can be found here.
What's next?
The 60 women golfers who will compete at the Olympics will be set on 28 June, with both men's and women's field to be confirmed on 1 July.
Players will have just one last chance to secure their ticket to the Games this summer when the Women's PGA Championship gets underway on 24 June in Atlanta.
The 156-player field is headlined by Lexi Thompson, Jin Young Ko, Inbee Park, Yuka Saso and Lydia Ko.