Golf’s Shambolic History in the Olympics

The lack of female representation aside, this might sound all well and good, but there was a problem: lack of international participation. The men’s events attracted 77 entrants, but 74 were from the host nation with the other three journeying from neighbouring Canada.
The team event was a fiasco from the start, with only two 10-man teams entering – both from the US. However, some of the stragglers got together to create – wait for it – another US team. In a shock result, the US won gold, silver and bronze medals over the two rounds played. Gold went to the “Western” team, silver to “Trans-Mississippi” and bronze to the “USGA”. The Western team ran out deserved winners, taking four of the top-five individual scores, with reigning US Amateur champion Chandler Egan well clear at the head of the field with a score of 165. At the other end, Nat Moore, one of the lesser players in the Western team, managed to bag a share of Olympic team gold after scoring a total of 188; perhaps more incredibly, a character named George Oliver claimed a team bronze, despite having shot a woeful 206.