Olympic golfer sounds off on lack of LIV stars in Paris

The strongest field in history has been assembled for the Men’s Olympic Golf Competition – but the qualification process meant that a host of big names still missed out on a medal chance. 

While seven LIV Golf players are competing at this week’s 72-hole tournament at Le Paris National, big names like Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith are absent from the field.

That is largely down to the Olympics using the Official World Golf Ranking  (OWGR) system to determine their field as LIV players do not earn world ranking points on the breakaway league.

Mexican duo Carlos Ortiz and Abraham Ancer were “sweating” on their own chances of being in Paris without regular access to ranking points and both later spoke of their pride to represent their nation at the Games.

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But Ortiz, who won LIV’s Houston event in June, also had the frustrations of his missing colleagues on his mind before the tournament had begun.

“It’s just the situation in golf right now, it’s unfair,” he said. “Especially Olympic Games, you want to have the best golfers right here, but politics somehow manage things still.

“I still feel there’s golfers that should be here and couldn’t be here because of what has happened, you know. I think the Olympic Games definitely should be neutral, you know. They should have not turned away ranking players accordingly, especially now that the World Ranking points don’t really work anymore.”

So, what’s the solution?

“The solution would be people up there to leave their egos on the side and find a common ground,” Ortiz continued.

I think there is definitely common ground… and both sides have to give something up to find common ground. I believe both of us should be playing majors. I think we played great golf this year, and it’s hard to get in them. I tried to qualify for the British Open. I just barely missed. But you know, there should be a way for us to get in there, a simpler way.”

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The world ranking system’s failure to recognise LIV players remains a huge point of contention for players on Greg Norman’s tour as they are constantly losing ground in their bid to play in the major championships.

And while some players are adamant that LIV deserves a direct pathway into majors, the Olympics is a different situation entirely.

Jon Rahm, however, has suggested a revamp to the whole Olympic setup that would see nations pick their own players without the need for the qualification standings.

“I understand it’s a different circumstance, but I think you need to let each country choose who they want to play, and in the future, I would also like to see some team aspect in the Olympics, as well, right,” the Spaniard said before his Olympic debut.

“I mean, we are here representing Spain. So I would love to actually, as a partner or somehow, whether as a combined sport or us playing together, to be able to represent Spain. That would be extremely nice to share the stage with another player, to do something different, to maybe what we do every other day, right.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.