Collin Morikawa edges out Patrick Cantlay for last American Olympics spot after U.S. Open

The golf field for the Olympics is set.

Golf qualification for the upcoming Olympics in Paris ended Sunday after Bryson DeChambeau’s win at the U.S. Open in North Carolina. Half of the United States’ team was set before the third major championship of the year kicked off, and then Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa locked in their spots.

Although he came incredibly close, Patrick Cantlay will just miss out on an Olympics berth.

Cantlay entered the week needing either a win or a runner-up finish to jump Morikawa in the Official World Golf Rankings and take the last Olympics spot reserved for an American. He instead posted an even-par 70 on Sunday and finished in a tie for third with Tony Finau at the U.S. Open — thanks to a clutch birdie from Finau on the 18th green.

Since they tied for third, Morikawa remained slightly ahead of Cantlay in the OWGR standings. That gave him the final Olympics spot.

Morikawa, who finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, pulled off a bogey-free 66 on Saturday at the U.S. Open to stay in contention entering the final round. He finished T14 with a 2-over 72 on Sunday. That, thanks largely to a runner-up finish last week at the Memorial Tournament, was just enough to keep him ahead of Cantlay at No. 7 in the OWGR.

Clark, who won the U.S. Open last year in Los Angeles, struggled this week. He finished at 12-over after a final-round 77, which dropped him to T56 in the standings. But as he entered the week at No. 4 in the OWGR and neither Cantlay nor Morikawa played well enough to catch him in recent weeks, Clark will still get to compete in the Olympics.

Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, who were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the world, respectively, had already secured their spots in the Olympics field. Scheffler has won five times on the PGA Tour this season, and he has finished in the top 10 in all but one of his past 12 starts. The outlier there was this week at Pinehurst, where he ended 8-over and finished T41.

Schauffele, who won the PGA Championship last month for his first major title, finished T7 at 1-under for the week. He won the Olympics in Tokyo after narrowly beating Rory Sabbatini by a single stroke. C.T. Pan won the bronze medal. Schauffele will drop to No. 3 in the new OWGR rankings, however, after Rory McIlroy’s runner-up finish at Pinehurst.

And even though he picked up his second U.S. Open title, DeChambeau won’t be with the Americans in Paris. The LIV Golf member jumped to No. 10 in the OWGR with his win.

How does Olympics qualifying work?

Qualifying for the Olympics is run largely through the Official World Golf Rankings.

The top 15 golfers in the OWGR after the U.S. Open are eligible for the Olympics, though each country can send a maximum of four golfers. As of Sunday morning, the United States had nine golfers in the top 15.

From there, the 60-man field will be made up of the top two eligible players per country, as long as that country doesn’t already have two golfers inside the top 15.

As they’re ranked inside the top 15, big names such as Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Åberg, Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama all earned spots in the Olympics field. Matthieu Pavon, who is the highest-ranked French player, will also get to compete. He finished fifth at the U.S. Open after a final-round 71.

The women’s qualification period, which follows the same rules as the men’s side, will end next Sunday after the Women’s PGA Championship.

Le Golf National will host both the men’s and women’s competitions at the Olympics. The venue, which sits southwest of Paris, played host to the Ryder Cup in 2018 and hosts the Open de France each year on the DP World Tour.