PARIS
\nThe attention of the world\u2019s top golfers turns to the upcoming Paris Olympics, where they will battle it out in the third Games since the sport was added back to the schedule.
\nXander Schauffele will defend his men\u2019s title fresh from winning a second major trophy at the British Open, although reigning women\u2019s champion Nelly Korda will be trying to reverse a drastic downturn in form at Le Golf National, the venue of the 2018 Ryder Cup on the outskirts of the French capital.
\nHere, AFP Sport takes a look at three talking points ahead of the Olympic golf tournaments:
\nAmerican Schauffele will start his bid for a second straight gold medal on August 1 full of confidence after finally shedding his nearly man status at golf\u2019s biggest events by winning both the USPGA Championship and the British Open.
\nThe 30-year-old won the biggest title of his career at the time at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago and will likely be a hard man to beat again.
\nHe showed remarkable poise at Troon on Sunday to fire a four-under back nine and hold off the challenges of Rio Olympic champion Justin Rose and Billy Horschel to secure the Claret Jug.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true to win two majors in one year,\u201d Schauffele said. \u201cIt took me forever just to win one, and to have two now is something else.\u201d
\nThe world number two struck gold in Japan by edging out Slovakia\u2019s Rory Sabbatini by one shot.
\nReigning women\u2019s champion Korda enjoyed a remarkable start to 2024, reeling off five successive victories as she lifted six titles in the early part of the season.
\nShe is the first woman to win six LPGA Tour events in a single year since Park In-bee in 2013 and sealed her second major crown at the Chevron Championship.
\nBut the wheels came off in spectacular fashion as she made a 10 on a par three at the US Women\u2019s Open en route to missing the cut.
\nKorda then also failed to reach the weekend at both the LPGA Classic and the Women\u2019s PGA Championship.
\nThe 25-year-old showed signs of a return to form at the recent Evian Championship, but could only finished tied-26th.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve never been to Paris. I\u2019ve flown through Paris, so also really excited to get to see Paris and maybe be a little bit of a tourist if I have some time,\u201d said Korda, who won in Tokyo by a single stroke from Mone Inami and Lydia Ko, the only double medallist in the brief history of Olympic golf.
\n\u201cWhen the week comes I know I\u2019m going to be so excited.\u201d
\nThe women\u2019s competition starts on August 7.
\nWhen golf was reintroduced to the Olympics for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, many pundits, fans and players called for a different format to the usual 72-hole strokeplay events to be used.
\nBut the standard four-round individual format was selected, with many top players opting to skip the Olympics.
\nRory McIlroy had said he probably wouldn\u2019t even watch the golf in Brazil after withdrawing.
\nThose attitudes have since dissipated, with the majority of the game\u2019s biggest names playing in Tokyo and slated to feature in Paris.
\nBut the debate about the format is still simmering.
\n\u201cI would want to keep the individual part of it, but also add in the team part of it,\u201d said Korda.
\n\u201cI think that would be fun. In the sense right now it\u2019s just like a regular event and I think with the Olympics being every four years and being so special, it would be nice to see maybe something new that is not played at all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS The attention of the world\u2019s top golfers turns to the upcoming Paris Olympics, where they will battle it out in the third Games since the sport was added back to the schedule. Xander Schauffele will defend his men\u2019s title fresh from winning a second major trophy at the British Open, although reigning women\u2019s champion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-421020","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n