Majors for the season are well wrapped up, yet there remains yet another big event: the Paris Olympics. While Joost Luiten fought against his unfair dismissal and won, LIV golfer Jon Rahm was declared the highest-paid athlete in the Paris Olympics, on the other hand. There is no shortage of Olympic golf headlines. But along with that, there remains confusion regarding the Olympics’s set of rules for the golf event at the Le Golf National.

Will the fans witness Olympic golf in the same way as they have done to date? You might find the answer a little bit twisted. But here is a simplified explanation of the field and the rules that you need to keep in mind while enjoying the race for gold in golf at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Will the whole field play in all rounds?

Most PGA Tour events usually explore a reduction in their field after the 36th hole through a cut. This brings the player number to almost half of what the event has begun with. But the Olympics do not follow that rule.

The men’s Olympics will encounter the same 60 players throughout all the rounds of the event from August 1st to 4th. According to the NBC Olympics, “Unlike events on the PGA and LPGA tours, golf at the Olympic Games does not include a cut after 36 holes. All 60 players in both the men’s and women’s fields progress to the final two rounds.”

Although that seems like a little diversion from the usual golf format, you should not forget to note the similarities. All the golfers will be playing 72 holes in an individual stroke-play format. Yes, you will hence be able to enjoy the usual rounds of 18 holes each. The perk is that you do not have to worry about whether your favorite golfer will make it to the third round or not. With the cut removed, every player will have chances to turn their fate around.

But what happens when someone is tied with another golfer at the Olympics?

Tie-breaking rules at the Paris Olympics

Being tied for the same spot is a very common phenomenon in golf. Because of this, the PGA Tour has incorporated its own rules to justly take the next step to give the golfers their due position. Playoffs help such tie-breakers for deciding the winner. The Olympics are no exception. The authorities have chosen to implement a sudden-death playoff in a situation where two or more players are finishing tied for first place.

If, after the first playoff hole in the sudden-death playoff, two or more players continue to stay tied, there will certainly be yet another playoff hole. This structure will proceed without any break until the Olympics witness the winning swing from any of the tied players. The NBC Olympics declared that it is necessary to declare a winner as well as settle who takes home the silver and the bronze.

They wrote, “Unique to golf at the Olympics, however, is that ties must be broken not just to determine a winner but also, if necessary, to determine the silver and/or bronze medalists. If player X finishes in the gold medal position with a score of 12 under, but players Y and Z finish tied for 2nd at 11 under, players Y and Z will compete in a playoff to determine who takes silver and who takes bronze.”

Are you excited to see what is about to unfold this Thursday? Let us know in the comments below.