Six LIV Golf players set to compete in Paris Olympics this summer
Editor's note (6/20/24): Torque GC's Mito Pereira has been added to Chile's Olympic team and will become the seventh LIV Golf League member to compete in the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics. Click here for more.
Six LIV Golf players are set to compete for Olympic medals this summer in Paris.
Spain’s Jon Rahm (Legion XIII) and David Puig (Fireballs GC), Chile’s Joaquin Niemann (Torque GC), Poland’s Adrian Meronk (Cleeks GC) and Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz (Torque) and Abraham Ancer (Fireballs) will represent their countries as part of the 60-man field at Le Golf National starting Aug. 1. The field was made official Monday with the final Olympic Golf Rankings.
This will be the first Olympics appearance for Rahm and Puig. The other four LIV Golf players competed in the previous Olympics competition in Tokyo, with Niemann finishing T10, Ancer T14, Ortiz T42 and Meronk T51.
Puig earned his spot at the U.S. Open when he made the cut, allowing the 22-year-old to jump ahead of countryman Jorge Campillo in the rankings. Puig has made the most of his multiple starts outside of LIV Golf in hopes of improving his status, winning two Asian Tour events and finishing inside the top 15 in his 11 Olympic ranking starts within the last 12 months.
“Proud of myself and all the work I put in this year and last year,” Puig said. “All the travel I did, I think it paid off for moments like this. I’m super-excited.”
Niemann enters this week’s LIV Golf Nashville as the season-long individual points leader, having won twice this season. Three years ago in Japan, he finished one stroke out of the seven-man playoff for the bronze medal.
“I enjoyed a lot being in Japan the last Olympics,” Niemann said. “Being able to be in another Olympics representing my country … I'm excited to be there in Paris.”
Ortiz is LIV Golf’s most recent individual winner, having won his first title in Houston. He also won earlier this year at the International Series Oman on the Asian Tour.
“I really liked playing in the last Olympics, and I think it's going to be really fun,” Ortiz said. “It's also nice that we're playing just a week before right beside it. We're definitely looking forward to it, and it's always really nice when you can represent your country.”
The men’s competition is scheduled for Aug. 1-4, the week after LIV Golf UK on July 26-28 at JCB Golf and Country Club in England.
This week’s LIV Golf Nashville features 17 players who competed in either the Tokyo Olympics or the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, when golf returned to the Olympics program after 112 years. Majesticks GC Co-Captain Henrik Stenson won the bronze medal in Rio.