When was women's golf added to the Olympics? History explored

Women's golf was added to the Olympics alongside men's golf in 1900. 10 players competed in the first women's golf event at the 1900 Paris Olympics at Compiegne Golf Club. Five players from the United States and five from France competed at the event.

A nine-hole stroke play was played to decide the winner. All three medals were won by American players. Margaret Abbott won the gold medal in the first women's golf event at the Olympics, while Pauline Whittier won the silver and Abbie Pratt won the bronze.

Only 22 women participated in the 1900 Olympic Games, with 10 of them participating in golf. Margaret Abbott and her mother Mary Ives Abbott both participated at the same event. Her mother tied for 7th position.

According to IGF Golf, Abbott received a gilded porcelain bowl instead of a medal and remained unaware of her victory until she died in 1955. She was born in Calcutta, India, and learned golf at Chicago Golf Club. Talking about his grandmother, the late Dr. Peter Dunne said (via "IGF Golf"):

"She had this very slow backswing. I can just see her very slow backswing then plump. And she was deadly accurate, and I would outdrive her by a hundred yards, but I'd be over here or over there. And she was boom, boom, boom."

The leaderboard in the first Olympics in nine-hole stroke play with scores is given below:

• 1st place, gold medalist: Margaret Abbott, United States, 47
• 2nd place, silver medalist: Pauline Whittier, United States, 49
• 3rd place, bronze medalist: Abbie Pratt, United States, 53
• 4th place: Jeanne Froment-Meurice, France, 56
• 5th place: Ellen Ridgway, United States, 57
• 6th place: Madeleine Fournier-Sarlovèze, France, 58
• 7th place: Mary Abbott, United States, 65
• 7th place: Baroness Lucile de Fain, France, 65
• 9th place: Rose Gelbert, France, 76
• 10th place: Marie Brun, France, 80

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How many times women's golf has been played in the Olympics?

Before the 2024 Olympics, Women's golf has featured three times at the Games. In the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, men's individual and team events were played, however, women's event wasn't played. After the 1900 Olympics, golf didn't feature in quadrennial games until 2016.

In the 2016 Rio Olympics, South Korea's Inbee Park won the gold medal with a margin of five shots over New Zealand's Lydia Ko at the Olympic Golf Course. Shanshan Feng won the bronze medal.

In 2020, Nelly Korda won the gold medal at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, Japan. She won by a shot over Mone Inami. Lydia Ko won the bronze and became the first player to win two medals in Olympic golf.

Let's take a look at the winning scores in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics:

2016 Rio Olympics:

• Inbee Park (South Korea): 1 (66-66-70-66, 268, -16)
• Lydia Ko (New Zealand): 2 (69-70-65-69, 273, -11)
• Shanshan Feng (China): 3 (70-67-68-69, 274, -10)

2020 Tokyo Olympics:

• Nelly Korda (United States): 1 (67-62-69-69, 267, -17)
• Mone Inami (Japan): 2 (70-65-68-65, 268, -16)
• Lydia Ko (New Zealand): 3 (70-67-66-65, 268, -16)

The 2024 women's golf event is scheduled from Wednesday, August 7 to August 10. Lydia Ko, Brooke M. Henderson, Minjee Lee, Xiyu Lin, Aditi Ashok, and many others will play in their Olympics this year.