The 2024 Olympic Games will run from Friday, July 26 to Sunday, August 11, and will see golf return to the Games for the fifth time in Olympic history. Golf was first featured in the Olympic Games in 1900, but was not included for over a century after the 1904 St. Louis Games. In 2016, golf made a spectacular return to the world’s biggest stage, marking its third consecutive Olympic appearance.
There are 60 men’s golfers competing in the Olympics, and the United States is the only country with four players: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, and Collin Morikawa. Each country can send up to two players, with one exception: if a country has two or more players in the top 15 of the Official World Golf Rankings, it can send up to four players. The United States was the only country to fill this exception in the 2024 Olympics.
The four U.S. players will compete at Le Golf National, best known as the site of the 2018 Ryder Cup. Olympic golf will be played as an individual stroke play tournament, 72 holes played over four days, similar to PGA Tour events. Schauffele will be seeking to defend his title after winning gold for the U.S. at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Let’s take a look back at the collegiate careers of four American male golfers.
*All rankings are as of June 17, 2024.
Scottie Scheffler, Texas
The 28-year-old phenom has taken the golf world by storm in recent years, winning two of the last three Masters Tournaments and 11 PGA Tour events. The former Longhorn will hold the OWGR No. 1 ranking starting in May 2023 and will undoubtedly be the favorite to win gold in Paris.
But before his dominance on the PGA Tour, Scheffler honed his skills in Austin from 2014 to 2018. The Dallas, Texas, native recorded a team-best 21 rounds under par as a freshman and won two tournaments, the Western Intercollegiate Championship and the 2015 Big 12 Championship.
Scheffler’s two wins as a freshman were the most in a single season during his time at Texas. Scheffler struggled as a sophomore, with a best result of ninth place at the 2016 Big 12 Championships, but bounced back in his junior season. In the 2016-2017 season, Scheffler recorded six top-three finishes, including an East Lake Cup win. His junior season was his best performance in the NCAA Tournament, finishing in a tie for third place in the final round.
While the world number one didn’t win again in his senior season, he finished 22 of 34 rounds under par, giving golf fans a glimpse of incredible consistency to come.
Xander Schauffele, San Diego State University
The Olympic golf gold medalist has been a fixture on the PGA Tour since winning the Tour Championship as a PGA Tour rookie in 2016. He recently claimed his first major title with a dramatic win at the 2024 PGA Championship and is currently third in the OWGR.
Schauffele began his collegiate golf career at Long Beach State before transferring to San Diego State for his sophomore season. During his sophomore season, Schauffele posted a 72.13 scoring average, good for second on the Aztecs and sixth in the Mountain West.
The 2016-2017 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year entered his junior season averaging 71.61 strokes per round and notched his first win at the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic. He finished the 2013-2014 season with five top-five finishes and a team-leading 16 rounds under par.
In his final season with the Aztecs, Schauffele again soared, posting a 70.49 average and eight top-five finishes. He won his second collegiate championship at the Barona College Cup, shooting 17-under-par 199 for the 54-hole tournament. He concluded his collegiate career by being named to the All-America Third Team.
Wyndham Clark, Oregon
Clark is one of golf’s rising stars, having risen to prominence in 2023 after winning the Wells Fargo Championship and the 2023 U.S. Open, and finished 2022 ranked 163rd in the OWGR and currently sits in fifth place halfway through the 2024 season.
Clark, 30, spent four years at Oklahoma State before transferring to Oregon for his redshirt senior season. As a redshirt freshman, Clark was named Big 12 Conference Player of the Year and finished in the top six for seven consecutive years. Clark took a bit of a hit his sophomore season, but still made it to his second consecutive NCAA Championship.
A University of Oregon graduate, Clark had seven top-five finishes and tied for second four times during his junior season, but did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament in the 2015-2016 season. The following summer, Clark took his talents to Eugene and excelled in his final collegiate season. Clark was ranked No. 1 in GolfStat and was named a 2017 Ben Hogan Award finalist.
He finished his collegiate career by winning the Pac-12 Championship and placing second at the NCAA Baton Rouge Invitational.
Collin Morikawa, California
At 27, Morikawa is the youngest golfer on the list and is a two-time major winner who ranks seventh in the OWGR. The 2020 PGA Championship winner, Morikawa has six career PGA TOUR wins and is widely regarded as one of the best ball-strikers in golf today.
Of the four great golfers on this list, Morikawa arguably has the most impressive collegiate resume: He earned First Team All-America honors three times with the Golden Bears (the first golfer from the University of California to do so) and holds the University of California career scoring average record.
The 2021 British Open champion has played in two NCAA Championships (2016 and 2019) and finished in the top 10 both times. During his junior season, Morikawa set a new NCAA single-season stroke average record of 68.68. Throughout his UC career, Morikawa won five events, had 22 top-five finishes and 35 top-10 finishes. He always seemed to be in contention to win, and this consistency has carried over to the PGA Tour.
Morikawa will be competing in his second Olympic Games alongside Schauffele and will be looking to find a path to the podium after finishing fourth in Tokyo.
