Team USA will match South Korea for the first time by sending four players to the 2021 Olympics, with Jessica Korda taking the fourth and final spot, joining newly-minted No. 1 Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson and Danielle Kang.
Inbee Park, the 2016 gold medal winner, will return for South Korea along with Jin Young Ko, Sei Young Kim and Hyo-Joo Kim.
The stars will be out in force in Aug. 4-7 for the Summer Games at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
“I’ve achieved a lot in golf,” said Park, “won a lot of majors, won a lot of tournaments, but winning the gold medal was something really different. I wish a lot of the players think the same and treat Olympics the same. I think it’s definitely something that you should experience.”
Some players, like Shanshan Feng and Hannah Green, won’t play again until the Olympics, heading back to their native countries, China and Australia, respectively, to quarantine and prepare.
“It’s interesting to see how the men and women have changed their schedule for it,” said Green who, like Feng, will miss the LPGA’s next major. “It’s a tournament that I am prioritizing.”
Feng, the 2016 bronze-medal winner in Rio, might even retire after the Games.
While Germany’s Sophia Popov is fulfilling an Olympic dream that her mother and brother, both high-level swimmers, never realized, the Korda sisters follow in the footsteps of their mother, Regina, who competed in the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul in tennis.
“It’s a great experience, great feeling,” said Regina. “It’s just special.”
The Rolex Rankings were used to determine the field of 60. The top 15 players in the world were eligible, with a maximum of four from each country. After that, a maximum of two players were eligible from each nation.
South Korea’s So Yeon Ryu was the highest-ranked player, at No. 16, who was ineligible to compete.
Full Olympic women’s golf field, teams
Argentina
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Magdalena Simmermacher
Austria
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Christine Wolf
Australia
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Minjee Lee
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Hannah Green
Belgium
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Manon De Roey
Canada
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Brooke M. Henderson
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Alena Sharp
China
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Shanshan Feng
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Xiyu Lin
Chinese Taipei
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Wei-Ling Hsu
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Min Lee
Colombia
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Mariajo Uribe
Czech Republic
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Klara Spilkova
Denmark
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Nanna Koerstz Madsen
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Emily Kristine Pedersen
Ecuador
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Daniela Darquea
Finland
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Matilda Castren
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Sanna Nuutinen
France
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Celine Boutier
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Perrine Delacour
Germany
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Sophia Popov
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Caroline Masson
Great Britain
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Melissa Reid
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Georgia Hall
Hong Kong
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Tiffany Chan
India
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Aditi Ashok
Ireland
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Leona Maguire
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Stephanie Meadow
Italy
Japan
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Nasa Hataoka
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Mone Inami
Malaysia
Mexico
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Gaby Lopez
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Maria Fassi
Netherlands
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Anne van Dam
New Zealand
Norway
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Marianne Skarpnord
Philippines
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Yuka Saso
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Bianca Pagdanganan
Puerto Rico
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Maria Fernanda Torres
Slovenia
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Pia Babnik
South Africa
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Ashleigh Buhai
South Korea
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Jin Young Ko
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Inbee Park
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Sei Young Kim
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Hyo-Joo Kim
Spain
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Carlota Ciganda
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Azahara Munoz
Sweden
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Anna Nordqvist
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Madelene Sagstrom
Switzerland
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Albane Valenzuela
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Morgane Metraux
Thailand
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Patty Tavatanakit
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Ariya Jutanugarn
United States
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Nelly Korda
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Danielle Kang
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Lexi Thompson
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Jessica Korda
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