USA Olympic golf team 2024: Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark clinch spots despite Bryson DeChambeau's U.S. Open win
USA Olympic golf team 2024: Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark clinch spots despite Bryson DeChambeau's U.S. Open win
The 2024 U.S. Open was all about Bryson DeChambeau, as the LIV Golf star staved off a tough final-day challenge from Rory McIlroy to win his second career major.
It also marked an important moment in golf's pre-Olympics cycle, as the U.S. Olympic men's golf team has now been solidified for 2024.
Olympic golf participants are chosen entirely by a system based on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). Countries are granted as many as four slots in the 60-player field, but the countries don't have any say in which athletes they bring to the fold. It's entirely based on the OWGR.
Half of Team USA's golf squad was already set in stone entering Pinehurst. The other two had an inside path to their spots but needed some closely-ranked counterparts not to post big-time finishes to overtake them.
Patrick Cantlay very nearly made his way onto the four-player squad. He needed to finish top-two at the tournament to clinch a spot on the team. He finished third at 4-under, just two shots off DeChambeau's winning score.
Speaking of DeChambeau, he didn't make the cut for Team USA despite his win. He didn't move up enough in the OWGR because of LIV Golf's standing with the organization.
Who will represent Team USA in golf at the 2024 Olympics? Here's a look at the four men heading to Paris from the PGA Tour.
MORE: Why Bryson DeChambeau isn't going to the Olympics, explained
USA Olympic golf team 2024
Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler was locked into a spot on Team USA well before the 2024 U.S. Open. He had his worst performance of the season at Pinehurst — he shot 8-over to finish outside of the top 20 for the first time all year — but that couldn't erase his performance the previous four months.
Scheffler won five events between March 7 and June 9. That included victories at The Players Championship, The Masters, and The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village. During that stretch, Scheffler finished no worse than tied for eighth in any event, and that was the PGA Championship, an event during which he was arrested and played Saturday with a second-string caddie, as Ted Scott went home for his daughter's high school graduation.
During his torrid stretch, Scheffler earned comparisons to Tiger Woods and was in contention every week. His middling performance at Pinehurst, a difficult course, is just a blip on the radar, and many will expect the World No. 1 golfer to take home gold in Paris.
Xander Schauffele
Schauffele's high-end consistency was overshadowed a bit by Scheffler's dominance, but Xander took center stage at the PGA Championship when he won his first-ever major. Schauffele shot 22-under for the event and tied a low-round major record with an opening-round 62 at Valhalla Golf Club.
In addition to his first major win, Schauffele logged eight top-10 finishes over 10 events, including an eighth-place finish at the Masters. He ranks second on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained behind only Scheffler and truly has no weaknesses in his game.
Schauffele also won the gold medal at the 2021 Olympics, so his experience in Tokyo should help him fare well in the Paris competition.
MORE: How Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay became close friends
Wyndham Clark
Clark had one of the best 2023 seasons on the PGA Tour and got off to a strong start in 2024, as well. He won at the weather-shortened Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February after shooting a course-record 60 in the final round and earned back-to-back second-place finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship.
Since the Masters, Clark hasn't been as sharp. He has missed the cut in three of six events and has finished better than 47th just once. That was a strong, third-place showing at the RBC Heritage, but some will wonder whether a player demonstrating better form — like Bryson DeChambeau — would be a better option than Clark.
That said, Clark still entered the 2024 U.S. Open as the No. 4-ranked golfer in the world, so he had plenty of leeway in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) to make the Olympics. If he can get back to the form he demonstrated last season and in the early half of 2024, he should be within striking distance of a medal.
Collin Morikawa
Clark's cold spell started right about when Morikawa began to heat up. The 27-year-old golfer tied for third at the Masters, which kickstarted a stretch of seven consecutive events during which he has finished no worse than tied for 16th.
Morikawa is one of the most accurate golfers in the world and has a brilliant power fade that allows him to generate distance off the tee while generally keeping the ball in the fairway. He struggled with his putter at the start of the season but he's since brought that mark closer to average.
Overall, Morikawa ranks eighth on the PGA Tour in strokes gained thanks to his top-ranked driving accuracy. He further helps to raise Team USA's already high floor, and it shouldn't surprise anyone to see him challenge for the gold medal in Paris.