Fleetwood leads six strong raiding party from Dubai as they embark on a quest for Olympic glory

Meronk, Migliozzi, Detry, Oleson, and Bhullar are all set to represent their respective countries as they go head-to-head with the world’s top contenders

By Nick Tarratt, Khaleej Times Guest Golf Writer

Published: Wed 31 Jul 2024, 11:10 AM

Last updated: Wed 31 Jul 2024, 2:41 PM

Tommy Fleetwood leads a formidable challenge from Dubai-based golfers at this week’s Olympic Men’s Golf completion at Le Golf National, Paris France.

Alongside the Briton are Adrian Meronk from Poland, Guido Migliozzi representing Italy, Thomas Detry hailing from Belgium, Thorbjorn Oleson from Denmark, and Gaganjeet Bhullar from India who is a recipient of a Dubai Golden Visa.

The tournament is set to commence on Thursday, August 1st.

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It will be the third time that golf will feature in the Olympics since it returned to the games in 2016.

The growing significance of golf in the Olympics on the global golf calendar is illustrated by there being no events against golf in the Olympics on either the PGA Tour DP World Tour or LIV Golf.

Tommy Fleetwood (right) and long-time caddie Ian Finnis, ready to represent Great Britain at the Olympics at Le Golf National. - Supplied photo

The 72-hole individual stroke-play competition has attracted defending Men’s champion Xander Shaufflele (US) who looks to be a man in form having won both the US PGA Championship and The Open in recent weeks.

Pan Cheng-tsung (Taipei) won the Bronze Medal in the 2020 Olympics and is the only other medalist returning.

There are no other historical Men’s Olympic podium winners in the 60-player field this year.

Dubai will have a strong representation with six of the players in the field having strong connections with Dubai.

Dubai resident, Tommy Fleetwood is the highest ranked in the Official World Golf Ranking at number 14, seventh in the Race to Dubai and 30th in the FedEx Cup Standings.

Thomas Detry has had a quietly impressive season primarily based in the US and stands 57th in the OWGR and 32nd in the FedEx Cup Standings. The top 30 after the FedEx Play-offs will qualify for the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour.

Thorbjorn Oleson is 85th on the OWGR and 29th in the Race to Dubai.

Guido Migliozzi coached by Peter Cowen, is up to 131st in the OWGR and 10th in the Race to Dubai following his recent win in the BMW International on the DP World Tour.

Gaganjeet Bhullar is an 11-time winner on the Asian Tour – the third most of all time.

All are looking forward to the experience. Oleson was the only one of the six to play in 2016 in Rio with Fleetwood, Detry, Migliozzi and Meronk also playing in their second Olympics having competed in Japan. Bhullah is making his debut.

There is no 36-hole cut in Golf in the Olympics – all 60 players will compete in all four rounds.

In the event of a tie after four rounds – there will be a play-off for the Golf, Silver and Bronze Medals.

In 2021 in Tokyo, there was a seven-way battle for the bronze medal in the Men’s competition. Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan prevailed on the fourth extra hole, beating the likes of Rory McIlroy, Colin Morikawa and home favourite Hideki Matsuyama.

Rory commented afterwards, “I never tried so hard in my life to finish third.”