Since golf returned to the Olympic Games in 2016, only five women know what it feels like to experience a medal ceremony.
One of those women, Shanshan Feng, the bronze medalist from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, has already retired from the LPGA. Feng, who now serves as the Chinese National Team coach, is now a wife and mom, living back home in China.
Gold medalist Inbee Park is also on a break from the tour, now pregnant with her second child. The 36-year-old LPGA Hall of Famer, who named her Golden Retriever “Rio”, is one of 32 candidates vying for a place on the IOC’s Athlete’s Commission.
Athletes are currently voting in the Olympic Village in Paris. Four athletes from four different sports will be elected by their peers. Should Park be successful, she will serve an eight-year term.
Lydia Ko, the only player to medal twice, took silver in Rio and lost in a playoff against Japan’s Mone Inami in Tokyo. Ko has her sights set on completing the medal collection this week Le Golf National. A gold medal would also put the Kiwi into the LPGA Golf Hall of Fame.
Inami won the 2023 Toto Japan Classic to earn LPGA membership and is now a rookie on tour. The 25-year-old has struggled mightily of late, missing her last four cuts and withdrawing from the KPMG Women’s PGA, her most recent start, after an opening 81. Inami hasn’t competed since June and is not in the field in Paris.
Current World No. 1 Nelly Korda won the gold medal in Tokyo. After an historic start to the 2024 season with six victories in her first eight starts, Korda’s form has been baffling of late, missing the cut in three of her last four starts. She took time off after the Amundi Evian in France to visit a friend in Croatia and prepare for Paris.
Below is a closer look at the women’s medalists from the 2016 and 2020 Olympics (which kept the 2020 branding but were contested in 2021 due to the global COVID pandemic).