Cameron Smith's Olympic hopes alive as golf body reviews rules

The Australian

05-08-2025

Cameron Smith's Olympic dream is not dead, with the governing body in charge of setting qualification rules 'reviewing' the system that could abandon world rankings as the only measure and open the door for LIV stars.
An Olympic gold medal has joined winning major championships as a driving force for the current and next generation of golfing stars and Smith, who represented Australia in Tokyo, spoke with passion about the Games as his rankings slide pushed him beyond the selection criteria for Paris in 2024.
As is stands, the top 15 players on the world rankings get automatic entry, with a cap of four players per country. Then from those outside the top 15, the top-two ranked players from countries not already represented fill out the 60-player fields in the men's and women's draw.
Jason Day and Min Woo Lee were Australia's male representatives in Paris.
Smith has fallen outside the top 200 after missing all four major cuts in 2025, the only events he could have received world ranking points before playing in the Australian PGA and Open later this year.
Jason Day, Luke Reardon, Karrie Webb, Stuart Davidson and Min Woo Lee at the Paris Olympics. Picture:But Antony Scanlon, the Australian boss of the International Golf Federation, which oversees golf in the Olympics, said the desire to get the 'strongest field possible' had prompted a review and the qualification for LA in 2028 was not 'locked in'.
Scanlon said the addition of the mixed teams event for the LA Games showed the program could evolve and that evolution could include qualifying as the golfing landscape continued to change.
'We're not locked in,' Scanlon told NewsWire.
'We've reviewed our schedule and now we've got an extra event. We're also currently reviewing the qualification system and we'll have to have that finalised by the end of this year.
'What we want is the strongest field possible and also the most diverse in terms of the national Olympic committees.
'We'll look at the world rankings and whether that is the best scenario or if there's some other method that we need to do to tick those boxes.
'Nothing is set in stone and we're determined to get the strongest field possible.'
Cameron Smith at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Picture:Any changes could also impact LIV players from South Africa and England, including English star Tyrrell Hatton.
LIV headliner Jon Rahm remains Spain's highest-ranked player despite dropping to 75 in the world, but that could change by the time the LA Games come around given the 'churn' that takes place in the sport.
'The best players are competing in world ranking events at majors and also those that are participating on the Asian Tour., so there is opportunities for those that have a vision to be part of the Olympic Games,' Scanlon said.
'But as I said, we'll look at how we can go about getting the best field.
'For every sport that's on the Olympic program, it's the international federation that works out the qualification system and the IOC then ratifies that.
'And we are managing that process.'
Scanlon said the emotion shown by the likes of world No.1 Scottie Scheffler, who was in tears standing on top of the podium in Paris, has franked Olympic gold as a driving force for golfers and cemented it as part of the Games.
Russell Gould
Sports editor
Russell Gould is a senior sportswriter with nearly 20 years' experience across a wide variety of sports including AFL, cricket, golf, rugby league, rugby and horse racing. Starting as a sports reporter at MX, then the Herald Sun, he has written news and in-depth features as well as covering major events in both Melbourne and around the world, from the 2003 rugby World Cup, though to the 2019 Ashes in England, two US Masters at Augusta and every Boxing Day Test since 2010. Having also spent four years as the Herald Sun sports chief of staff, he is now the founding sports editor of NCA NewsWire.
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Russell Gould