Women Golfers Drive Toward Olympic Gold

(ATR) Next up on the tee – women's Olympic golf.

Host nation Brazil will have the honors, as was also the case for the men’s tournament, when Miriam Nagl hits the opening tee shot at 7.30 a.m. Wednesday morning.

The 35-year-old Brazilian golfer will play alongside Ireland’s Leona Maguire and Kelly Tan of Malaysia marking the return of women’s golf as an Olympic sport after an absence of 116 years. Nagl and Victoria Lovelady will be representing Brazil, trying to make the host nation proud.

In the same format and on the same course as the men, 60 ladies will play the first of four rounds at the Gil Hanse designed Reserva de Marapendi course aiming to emulate their male counterparts by putting on another glittering show.

It has been 116 years since women played Olympic golf dating to the Paris 1900 Games, the only time the sport was contested by ladies at the Games. Margaret Abbott of the United States is the only woman to have won an Olympic gold medal in the sport.

Many eyes will be focused on Lydia Ko of New Zealand, the current world number one. The 19-year-old sensation already has accumulated 19 pro tour wins including two majors. In early April, Ko captured her second major at the ANA Inspiration in southern California.

Ko said she has been looking forward to the Olympic tournament all season.

"The Olympics was probably the biggest goal of mine this year," Ko said. "Firstly, to represent New Zealand and obviously to compete in it. If I end up holding a gold medal at the end of Saturday, and standing on the podium, I think it will be extra special. I don't know if I would ever take that medal off."

Korea is the only nation which has qualified four golfers, all of whom are ranked in the top 15 of the World Golf Rankings – Inbee Park, In Gee Chun, Hee Young Yan and Seiyoung Kim.

Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand and Brooke Henderson of Canada should also be in the chase for medals come Saturday’s final round.

"[This week] has definitely been in the back of my mind for a long time, something that I’ve wanted to peak for," Henderson told the Golf Channel. "It’s kind of like a sixth major on the LPGA Tour and I’m excited to be here to compete."

American golfers could also be in the hunt for medals. Second only to Korea, the U.S. is represented by a trio of talent – Lexi Thompson, Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller, who narrowly made the cut one day prior to the close of qualification on July 11.

Annika Sorenstam, who assisted the International Golf Federation (IGF) in getting the sport back into the Games, likes the Americans’ chances.

"You’ve got Lexi Thompson, Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller top ranked players showing recent form," said Sorenstam, who is working for the Golf Channel this week in Rio. "Lexi certainly has the distance on this golf course, but you need a good short game around here also. I would say the chances for a medal are pretty high."

IGF president Peter Dawson would like to see the ladies tournament come off in similar fashion as the men’s event, which concluded this past Sunday with Justin Rose of Great Britain winning a gold medal defeating Sweden’s Henrik Stenson in a dramatic conclusion decided on the 72nd hole.

"In terms of what can be better, there are always delays that we can improve upon, but I don’t think we can improve the spirit and enjoyment that was felt by people over the last four days," Dawson said earlier this week.

Written by Brian Pinelliin Rio de Janeiro

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