The International Olympic Committee is considering incorporating a mixed golf competition in the Olympic Games of 2028 to be held in Los Angeles. A groundbreaking and innovative idea that is taking shape and could be officially announced in the coming weeks.
Since golf returned to the Olympics in 2016, both in Rio de Janeiro and in Tokyo, two different competitions have been held, a men’s individual competition and a women’s one in a 72-hole stroke play format. This will also be the case at Le Golf National in the Games being held this very summer. The Olympic movement is considering incorporating a third mixed competition by countries at the Riviera Country Club (venue for the golf competition), as an anonymous source told The Associated Press.
This possible announcement is part of a broader strategy of the IOC in which it tries to promote the highest number of mixed competitions, in the name of innovation and equality. In fact, nine mixed events such as mixed track relay by teams of 4×400 meters, the mixed swimming relay by teams of 4×100 meters, the mixed team triathlon, or the mixed team clay shooting, where Spain won the gold, made their debut at the Tokyo Olympic Games. In 2024, for example, an innovative mixed marathon will debut. A race with a man and a woman per team and the order will be man-woman-man-woman and each of them will cover approximately 10 kilometers.
This option of a mixed competition would not be something completely new in professional golf. In fact, at the end of last year, the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour jointly organized the Grant Thornton Invitational, which was played in pairs made up of representatives from both circuits and was won by Lydia Ko and Jason Day.
However, everything seems to indicate that the format of this new competition has not yet been decided or at least would not be fully defined. One of the options being considered would be a two-day competition in a fourball format. It would be necessary to determine how many countries would participate and if an individual round is also added to the fourball format.
It is true that the schedule is tight and adding one more event can always create complications. Everything seems to indicate that it will be a two-day competition, which would be held in between the two individual competitions and with the only change that the start of the men’s competition is brought forward by one day. It does not seem an insurmountable obstacle by any means.
