The Olympics and top-100 OWGR vs WAGR
MikkelGolf.com Newsletter #30
When this newsletter publishes, we’ll be roughly halfway through the second round of the men’s tournament at the Olympics. As a big sports fan, I’ve always enjoyed watching the Olympics, and it's exciting to see golf included now. If I were still competing in golf, the Olympics might have been my biggest goal.
A quick look at the men’s field shows four Americans, with a maximum of two players from any other nation due to the Olympic qualification rules.
Top 15 in the OWGR are eligible
No more than four players can be selected from a given nation
Outside the top 15, "players will be eligible based on the world rankings, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15"
The United States has the largest share of top-ranked players, giving them a distinct advantage at the Olympic Games.
Out of curiosity, I wanted to examine the distribution of the top 100 ranked players in the OWGR (Official World Golf Ranking), mainly to see the United States’ share. While I was at it, I included the top 100 ranked players in the WAGR (World Amateur Golf Rankings) to see if the distributions were similar.
There are valid arguments about the inaccuracies of both the OWGR and the WAGR. The main criticism of the OWGR these days is that it excludes LIV events. On the other hand, the WAGR is often criticized for not accurately weighting different levels of competition. For example, the recent US Junior winner, Tyler Watts, entered the tournament ranked 3570th in the WAGR.
I don’t intend to make arguments for or against either the OWGR or the WAGR. I simply want to look at where the top-100 in each ranking is from. let’s have a look:
50% of the top 100 ranked players in the world are from the United States. Similarly, 52% of the top 100 ranked amateurs are also Americans. I knew the U.S. would be dominant, but I didn’t expect to see half the players coming from the same country.
It’s also interesting to see some countries pop up on the amateur side, such as China. China now has seven of the top 100 ranked amateurs, which surely bodes well for the future of Chinese professional golf.
On the other hand, Canada has six players ranked in the top 100 OWGR but none in the amateur ranks right now.
It’s great to see some lesser-known golf nationalities appear in the amateur rankings as well, such as Kenya, Estonia, Vietnam, and the Cayman Islands.
What do you notice in these rankings?
I wouldn’t be a true Norwegian if I didn’t mention the Scandinavian countries. Norway has three players in the top 100 (although Baard Skogen has recently turned pro), while Sweden has four. Altogether, the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark) have eight players in the top 100 on the amateur side and seven on the professional side. Not biased at all here—that’s pretty good!
Finally, I wanted to share an article from the Wall Street Journal about the Norwegians and Swedes in the Olympics and their journey through Texas and Oklahoma. Back in the fall, when Ludvig qualified for the Ryder Cup, Andrew Beaton, one of the journalists on this piece, reached out to me for insights from Ludvig’s collegiate days. When this Olympic piece dropped yesterday, I was surprised to find myself quoted. Admittedly, it’s pretty cool to see your name in the WSJ, even if it's just for a short quote!
Again, not biased at all as I’m Norwegian and have lived 12 years in Texas who found their name in the piece, but I think it was a good article. :)
I hope you catch some Olympic Golf this weekend! See you next week!
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