Lydia Ko paired with Nordqvist and Hull

• Ko, Nodqvist and Hull are marquee group
• Trio get gold medal bid underway at 9.14am on Weds
• Field of 60 also includes three amateurs

Lydia Ko, Anna Nordqvist and Charley Hull have been drawn together for the opening two rounds of the women’s Olympic golf tournament, which gets underway in Rio this Wednesday.

World No.1 Ko is the hot favourite to emulate men’s winner Justin Rose and take the gold medal for New Zealand. The 19-year-old gets her title tilt underway in the final group on Wednesday at 9.14am local time (1.14pm UK) alongside Swede Norqvist and Team GB’s Charley Hull.

Hull’s fellow Brit, former RICOH Women’s British Open champion Catriona Matthew, goes out in the second group at 7.41am (11.41am). She is joined by Shiho Oyama of Japan and Israel’s Laetitia Beck.

Off to Rio #Olympics #Rio2016 (mum too pic looks like a first day of school pic)pic.twitter.com/ANdv3sOw9Q

— Charley hull(@HullCharley) 14 August 2016

Host nation, Brazil, will be recognised again when Miriam Nagl hits the opening tee shot at 7.30am in the company of Ireland’s Leona Maguire and Kelly Tan of Malaysia – a drive which will mark the return of women’s golf as an Olympic sport after an absence of 116 years.

Last week, the honour of the opening tee shot in the men’s competition went to another Brazilian in Adilson da Silva.

CONTINUES BELOW…

Another of the groups to look out for includes former world No.1 Inbee Park.  The Korean, pictured above, has been sidelined since the beginning of June with a thumb injury but has been working toward the opportunity to represent her country in Rio. She tees it up with American Gerina Piller and Spain’s Azahara Munoz at 9:03am (1.03pm).

Interestingly, the field also includes three amateur golfers: the aforementioned Maguire, Tiffany Chan of Hong Kong and Albane Valenzuela of Switzerland.

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Lydia Ko: Will she strike gold?

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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor