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U.S. golfers that currently qualify for Olympics includes Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth

ByCameron La Fontaine|
February 16, 2014; Pacific Palisades, CA, USA; Bubba Watson and Brian Harman approach the eighteenth hole green during the final round of the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
February 16, 2014; Pacific Palisades, CA, USA; Bubba Watson and Brian Harman approach the eighteenth hole green during the final round of the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Bubba Watson headlines top American golfer for 2016 summer Olympic qualifying.

Golf will be in the 2016 Summer Olympics for the first time since 1904, and the four American golfers that qualify include Bubba Watson, Matt Kuchar, Jim Furyk and Jordan Spieth.

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The rules for the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Summer Olympics will feature men’s and women’s individual events. Both events will have 60 players competing in a 72-hole stroke play format competition for the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals.

According to the rules, the 60 players will be determined by an Olympic Golf Ranking list to be published on the IGF website and is based on a player’s official world golf ranking.

All players within the top-15 of the rankings as of July 11, 2016, will be eligible, with one big caveat: No more than four players can come from any one country. The rest of the field will be determined by the world golf rankings, with a maximum of two players per country for countries that don’t have more than two players in the top-15.

The United States currently has seven players in the top 15. Bubba Watson (3), Jim Furyk (6), Jordan Spieth (9), Matt Kuchar (10), Rickie Fowler (12), Jimmy Walker (13) and Patrick Reed (15). That means as of now, Watson, Furyk, Spieth and Kuchar will all be eligible for the United States.

The only other country that has two players in the top-15 world rankings is Australia with Jason Day (4) and Adam Scott (5). This means that only the U.S. and Australia would be allowed to have four competitors in the competition.

We’ll see if American competition to be one of the top four increases in the next PGA Tour season as you can expect everyone will be hungry to participate in the first golf olympics in over 100 years especially the young guys like Spieth, Fowler and Reed as well as the older Jim Furyk who won’t have many more chances.

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