The weird history of golf in the Olympics

This history of golf at the Olympics is not long, but what it lacks in depth it has more than made up for in curiosity.

This week at Golf National in Paris the sport will appear at the Games for a fifth time and the first four were nothing more or less than remarkable in terms of obscure detail, outlandish connections and astonishing tales.

Golf was not, of course, a part of the original Olympics in Ancient Greece and nor was it involved in the first Modern Olympiad at Athens in 1896, but it was introduced to the Paris Games of 1900 and it started as it meant to go on.

A dozen men lined up for that inaugural event which took place in October, a mere five months after the first event of those French Games. They played two rounds at the Compiegne GC and the action was dominated British and American golfers who filled the first nine places.

The winner was New Yorker Charles Sands who, as was typical of the times, was something of a sporting all-rounder. Primarily a tennis player, he reached the last eight of the 1894 US Open with a racquet in hand, but bested that effort with rounds of 82-85 to win the golf in Paris.

In an eclectic field, Scottish land reformer Walter Rutherford was second; another Scot, the rugby international David Robertson, was third; the American pioneer of management consultancy Frederick Taylor was fourth; an American friend of the Wright Brothers (the first men to fly) Albert Lambert was eighth; and a Greek Royal Court Chamberlain by the name of Count Merkati Alexandros was 11th (the small matter of 79 shots behind the winner).

If you think that sounds a little odd, you’ve read nothing yet.

Margaret Abbott, an American who had been born in the British Raj, was the daughter of a wealthy father and a mother, Mary, who was a literary editor. Mother and daughter were keen amateur artists and travelled to Paris to study alongside Auguste Rodin and Edgar Degas.

They also enjoyed golf and noticed that a nine-hole tournament was taking place in early October. They entered. Mary prodded her ball round in 65 blows to tie Baroness Lucile de Fain for seventh and Count Merkati’s mother-in-law Abbie Pratt was third.

Margaret carded a 47 to win by two, collected a porcelain bowl mounted in gold, returned to her art, pottered home and died aged 76 in 1955. Incredibly she never knew she had won an Olympic competition – and nor did her family until the mid-1980s.

Four years later St Louis hosted and the golf took place at Glen Echo GC. The women’s event was dropped while a men’s team event was introduced.

The 75-man individual event featured 72 American golfers and three Canadians. That was it.

Chapeau, therefore, to George Lyon from Ottawa who qualified from the 36-hole stroke play and made his way through a scrum of US golfers in the match play brackets only to lose the final to Chandler Egan of Chicago (who completed a notable double that year by also winning the US Amateur Championship).

The team competition was even more heavily weighted towards the hosts. Three teams entered. The winners were from Western Golf Association (based in Illinois), silver went to a team from the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association and bronze to the United States Golf Association. In other words: an American clean sweep.

There should have been a golf competition in 1908 but that London event was also chaotic. George Lyon travelled from Canada in an attempt to improve on his 1904 silver, but when English and Scottish golfers squabbled over qualification rules the event was cancelled.

Sheepish organisers offered Lyon the gold by default but he declined. The Antwerp Games of 1920 were also set to include golf but a lack of entries (not even the valiant Lyon entered) led to it being quietly dropped.

The sport finally returned the sport’s greatest festival at Rio in 2016 and once again who entered was a key question. The men, in particular, were immune to the Olympic thrill and also wary of Zika fever. It was widely perceived that fears of the latter became a good excuse to make other plans.

Justin Rose (gold) and Henrik Stenson (silver) turned around modern golf’s notions of the Olympics in simple fashion: they were just completely delighted by the experience of competing alongside the best athletes in world sport and standing on the podium watching their nation’s flags fly high. Korea’s Inbee Park won the women’s gold.

And then to Tokyo. Nothing too strange but a rather lovely coincidence.

Nelly Korda and Xander Schauffele claimed the gold medals. Both of them Americans. Both the children of immigrants. Both the children of middle European immigrants. Both the children of middle European immigrants who themselves had excelled at sport and dreamed of Olympic success.

Korda’s parents are from Czechia. Her mother Regina competed for that nation in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and her father Petr won the 1998 Australian Open.

Schauffele’s mother Ping-Yi was born in Taiwan, brought up in Japan and moved to the US where she met her husband Stefan, a German who was on track to represent his country as a decathlete when a drunk driver hit him and ruined his career.

Only one question remains: What surprises and stories has golf got for us in Paris 2024?!?

Both competitions take place at Golf National, home to the Open de France and host of the 2018 Ryder Cup.

The men’s event takes place 1st-4th August, the women’s event 7th-10th August.