Woods, Park outside Olympic qualifying as tours halt
WASHINGTON: No changes are planned to the Olympic golf qualifying system, the International Golf Federation (IGF) which runs the event said after the sport shut down due to the coronavirus.
This could deal a hammer blow to the chances of Tiger Woods qualifying for Tokyo 2020, and for Park In-bee’s hopes of being eligible to defend her title from Rio 2016.
Based on the current rankings, Woods (United States) and Park (South Korea) would not qualify for their respective teams.
However, scrambling the equation is that even if the Olympics go ahead, many golfers could opt out, much as they did from Rio 2016 due to concerns over the zika virus.
Eligibility for the Tokyo 2020 men’s and women’s events will be determined by world ranking points compiled over almost two years from July 1, 2018 until June 22 (men) and June 29 (women) this year.
The list essentially mirrors the world rankings in determining the 60-player fields, with a maximum of two players from any single country (four if inside the top 15).
But the halting of the professional tour schedules for an undetermined time frame will have winners and losers, because there will be little week-to-week flux in the rankings.
Those on the outside looking in will for the most part continue looking in, and vice-versa. - Reuters