Golf

Golf is a straightforward game in principle and is effectively explained in its first rule: “The Game of Golf consists of playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules.” Players use different clubs based on varying criteria, including distance to the hole and playing surface.

The golf format at the Olympic Games is stroke play, which consists of counting the number of strokes a golfer takes to complete an 18-hole course played four times over four days. The player with the lowest number of strokes at the end of the four rounds wins the tournament.

OLYMPIC HISTORY

Prior to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, golf had featured on the Olympic programme on just two occasions: in 1900 and 1904. The sport made its Olympic comeback in Brazil and was contested again at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021.

New Zealand golf has been represented at two Olympiads, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

There have only been 3 New Zealand golf Olympians and all three competed at Rio 2016.