Imagine the team of golf medalists Xander Schauffele and Nelly Korda in an Olympic event. How good would that team will be? Well, that is something that might happen at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics Games. AP News has reported that the officials of the prestigious multi-sport events are very close to deciding on adding a mixed-team golf event in the next edition.
The Summer Olympics already have golf events for both men and women in its schedule. In the upcoming Paris Games, it will mark the third consecutive time that the sport will be played. Le Golf National Club has been selected as the venue to host this edition’s golf events.
According to the report, the mixed golf events will be announced as an additional part of the existing schedule for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics Games. Also, the announcement from the officials can be made before this year’s Masters Tournament in April. However, how many teams and what format the events will follow is still a mystery.
Which Format Of Mixed-Team Events Can Be Followed At The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics?
There are multiple formats for team golf such as Best Ball, Scramble, Four Ball, and Foursome. The prestigious team golf events such as the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup follow the FourBall and Foursome format. Also, the Summer Youth Olympics, which has mixed-team events in its schedule, also follows the Four Ball format ever since the first time they were conducted back in 2014. Back in the 2018 Youth Games in Buenos Aires, Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul and Vanchai Luangnitikul defeated USA’s Akshay Bhatia and Lucy Li in a mixed-team event to win the gold medal.
Henceforth, when the officials announce the mixed-team events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, it will certainly have Four Ball format. There are 54 holes to be covered by four-ball, and the singles scores of each male and female player will be taken into account.
The PGA Tour and LPGA Tour conducted a mixed-team event in December 2023 for the first time since 1999. It was known as the Grant Thornton Invitational which saw 16 male and 16 female players teeing up together. It followed 54 holes of scramble, foursomes (alternate shot), and modified four-ball formats. The team of Jason Day and Lydia Ko won the inaugural edition of the tournament.
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will hope to follow in the footsteps of the mixed-team event that was conducted by two of the biggest tours. They earlier had mixed-team events in Tennis, Rowing, Water Polo, and many more. If the mixed-team events are successful, there could be many more additions in other sports as well.
