On Thursday, Aug. 1, the men’s golf competition at the 2024 Olympics gets underway at Le Golf National in Paris, the home of the Open de France on the DP World Tour and 2018 Ryder Cup.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (USA), PGA Championship and British Open winner Xander Schauffele (USA), Rory McIlroy (Ireland), Ludvig Aberg (Sweden), Collin Morikawa (USA) and Jon Rahm (Spain) are just some of the players in the 60-man field.
Le Golf National is a par-71 track measuring 7,174 yards.
The gold medalist will earn exemptions into all four majors in 2025 along with the Players Championship.
Here are some of the best photos from the men’s golf competition at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
It’s fine, Steve. We’re not crying. There’s dust in our eyes.
Stephen Nedoroscik has seemingly captured the hearts of America after his stellar bronze medal-winning performance on Monday. Olympic fans might fall in love with him even more after hearing the sweet reason he tugs on his ear while competing.
Steve’s skyrocketing fame recently earned him some airtime on Today, where he wholesomely explained why you might find him tugging on his ear when he’s on TV. The move started back in college and has continued to the Olympic stage in Paris.
Here’s what he shared about what tugging on his ear actually means:
“So, this right here [tugging on ears] is for my dad’s father — my dziadek, that means grandfather in Polish — he passed away last year, unfortunately…”
“His name is Stephen John Nedoroscik, just like me. I’m named after him. And back when I was at Penn State, that was the thing that I did whenever I was on TV to say, ‘Hey, Dziadek.’ So, I’ve kept the tradition up, and now it also means ‘Hey’ to everyone that I love.”
U.S. men’s gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik tugs his ear when he’s on TV as a “hey” for everyone he loves❤️ pic.twitter.com/T7Q4cS0CBu
The broadcast team for NBC has a ton of experience covering basketball and the 3×3 game.
For the second straight Summer Games, 3×3 basketball is back at the Olympics. While the American men are in the Olympics for the first time after failing to qualify for Tokyo in 2021, the women’s squad is aiming to defend its gold medal.
All 3×3 basketball games for both the men and women will be live on the NBC streaming service Peacock, while some select games will also air on the USA Network, E!, and CNBC. The gold medal game is on NBC on Aug. 5 at 4:05 p.m. ET.
And your broadcasters for every 3×3 game will be the team of Krista Blunk and Kyle Montgomery.
Blunk has worked as a play-by-play voice covering soccer, volleyball, softball and basketball for the Pac-12 Network, Westwood One and ESPN. She’s currently the play-by-play voice of the Las Vegas Aces. Blunk also played college basketball at Evansville and professionally in Australia. She was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022.
Montgomery has worked as broadcaster for 3×3 basketball for several years, including the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. He’s also been a host and sideline reporter for the Los Angeles Clippers, an anchor on NFL Network and an anchor for NBA Gametime.
Blunk and Montgomery will call games from NBC Sports’ International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Connecticut, according to NBC.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks for reading today. Here’s your morning medal count as of 9:00 a.m. ET.
— United States: 20 (3 gold, 8 silver, 9 bronze)
— France: 16 (5 gold, 8 silver, 3 bronze)
— Japan: 12 (6 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze)
— China: 12 (5 gold, 5 silver, 2 bronze)
— Korea: 10 (5 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze)
Coco Gauff deserves better
The story of Coco Gauff’s loss in straight sets (7-6, 6-2) to Donna Vekić won’t be about the loss.
Instead, it’ll be about the argument between Gauff and yet another chair umpire after an erroneous call completely derailed what felt like might be a classic.
With the second set at 2-3 and Vekić playing for a breakpoint, Gauff served the ball into Vekić’s forehand. Gauff prepared to hit a return but the line judge called the ball out as she swung. She seemed to pull up after the call and sent the ball into the net.
The umpire correctly overruled the line judge and ruled the ball in. But the judge also ruled that Gauff lost the point, which gave Vekić the break she needed to push the match to 4-2.
That’s what caused Gauff’s teary-eyed reaction. She felt cheated and it’s hard to blame her.
A call was made and Gauff reacted to it. The call was wrong, yes, but it disrupted play. The obvious solution was to replay the point, but instead, we got a heated argument between Gauff and the chair umpire that looked completely embarrassing for the sport.
This isn’t the first time this has happened to Gauff. Just over a month ago at the French Open essentially the same thing happened in Gauff’s match against Iga Swiatek. Back then, Gauff argued that tennis needs a replay system to prevent things like this from happening. She’s arguing it again here and, honestly, she may be right. For these errors to continue to mar the sport repeatedly isn’t the greatest look.
You know what also isn’t the greatest look? Gauff’s reaction here. Don’t get me wrong. Understandably, she’s upset about what keeps happening to her. Anyone would be.
There’s nothing wrong with being an emotional player. We’ve seen plenty come through the sport and thrive. John McEnroe is the obvious one that comes to mind. Serena Williams got fiery at times on the court, too. But they were able to use that emotion and that fire to thrive.
Today, it seemed, Gauff’s emotions were a bit of a hindrance. That’s Ok. Gauff is young. She’ll learn and get better from this.
Let’s hope Roland Garros learns, too, and doesn’t continuously allow things to go this far.
Katie Ledecky is still better than everyone else
Here’s our daily word from Michelle Martinelli, who has boots on the ground in Paris for the Games. Today’s subject is the unmatched brilliance of Katie Ledecky. The longer she goes, the better she is.
NANTERRE, France — Bonjour, les gagnants! On Day 4 of swimming at the Paris Olympics, Katie Ledecky is doing Katie Ledecky things, like crushing her 1,500-meter freestyle competition in her typically dominant fashion.
The longer the race, the better Ledecky is, and the 1,500 is her best event — and one that was FINALLY added to the Olympic lineup at the 2021 Tokyo Games. (It took decades, but organizers finally corrected the absurdly antiquated and sexist thinking that limited the longest Olympic women’s event to the 800 when men could swim the 1,500.)
The world record holder, Ledecky was the first women’s 1,500 Olympic champion in Tokyo, setting the Olympic record by default. And after her prelims swim Tuesday, she certainly looks like she’ll have no trouble defending her Olympic gold.
Ledecky qualified first while fellow American Katie Grimes didn’t make the top-8 final, set for Wednesday afternoon Eastern time.
On a personal note, as a kid watching Olympic swimming, I remember being confused about why women couldn’t swim the 1,500 when 10-year-old me could. So to finally see the event in Tokyo on TV and then in person Tuesday in Paris was really something special.
This was my view of Ledecky cruising to the finish in prelims:
The 10-year-old inside me is crying.
— Michelle Martinelli 🇫🇷
Don’t forget: The MLB trade deadline is today
Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Olympic buzz has overtaken just about everything. But this might be a pretty important day for your favorite baseball team.
We’ve already seen a bit of movement so far. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a Yankee. Randy Arozarena is a Mariner. There’s plenty more to come with so many teams thinking they have a legitimate shot at winning down the stretch of the season. So many contending teams still have holes to fill.
If you need to play a little catchup, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered.
“Even being a leader, he cannot win by himself,” noted Collet.
Joining the French National Team would be an adjustment for any player. But for a star like San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama, it has also had some very unique challenges. Head coach of Team France Vincent Collet recently linked up with the Athletic NBA reporter Sam Amick to talk about Wemby’s experience adapting to playing for France in the 2024 Paris Olympics. And the Frenchman has done well in that regard per Collet.
“For Victor, the main thing was to go inside, where he is sure to dominate every time. If he plays too much perimeter, he’s like any other player,” explained the Team France coach.
“Some nights you make the shots, and some nights you don’t make (them),” he added. “And when you are stressed, you have more chance not to make (them).”
“Even being a leader, he cannot win by himself,” noted Collet. “He needs teammates to help him, and that’s what they did.”
“Batum, especially tonight, but others too, I think we cannot be good if we don’t find this chemistry, for sure. Victor is our target on offense, but we need to find a way to involve everybody.”
The 2024 Olympics are well underway, and that means some of the best golfers in the world are in Paris preparing to take on Le Golf National for a chance to win a gold medal.
A field of 60 players from across the globe will tee it up Thursday in the opening round of the Olympic men’s golf competition. The event is comprised of four rounds of stroke play, with a winner being determined Sunday afternoon.
Xander Schauffele, coming into the Olympics off his victory at the Open Championship, won the gold medal in Tokyo in 2021.
France’s Victor Perez will hit the opening tee shot on Thursday morning.
From tee times to TV and streaming information, here’s everything you need to know about Thursday’s opening round of the 2024 Olympic men’s golf competition. All times ET.
Celine Boutier has lived in Texas for eight years, but no one in the Olympic field is more familiar with Le Golf National than the 30-year-old Frenchwoman.
“I definitely know it with my eyes closed,” said Boutier, whose family home is 40 minutes away.
A six-time winner on the LPGA, Boutier broke through with her first major championship on home soil at the 2023 Amundi Evian Championship, becoming the first Frenchwoman to win the LPGA’s fifth major.
Currently No. 7 in the world, Boutier will be the fan favorite Aug. 7-10 when the women’s competition heats up in France at the Olympic games.
“You definitely have to be a really good ball-striker to be able to have a chance there and to be able to control your ball,” she said of 2018 Ryder Cup venue. “I think it’s a great test.”
One of several LPGA players who took part in Friday’s opening ceremonies on the Seine River, this marks Boutier’s second Olympic Games. Fans can gain more insight into the former Duke star by watching a recently released “Playing Lessons” episode on NBC’s GolfPass. The two-part program, taped last March at Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, is hosted by PGA Tour caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay. Golfweek was on the scene in Florida as the pair met for the first time to film.
Boutier isn’t big on technique. She leaves that to her younger brother Kevin, a Lead Master Instructor at The Jim McLean Golf School in Miami. Not that she likes to talk instruction with him either.
“Just in general, I don’t like to talk about swings. I may also be a little bit scared of what he might say, so I’d rather not inquire about it,” she said with a laugh.
Scenes from Celine Boutier’s appearance on GolfPass show “Playing Lessons” at Omni ChampionsGate on Monday, March 18, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Cy Cyr / GolfPass)
This episode of “Playing Lessons” is less about technique and more about strategy, as Boutier walks Mackay through her routines and how she goes about selecting which type of shot to hit. Mackay, who spent most of his caddying career with Phil Mickelson, carried the bag for Boutier as they played three holes, talking about her career in between shots and what goes on inside the ropes.
This marks the fourth season of “Playing Lessons” and Mackay became a regular host of the series after being called to fill in for a Jon Rahm episode in Scottsdale, Arizona, where they both live. Mackay, who also works as an on-course reporter for Golf Channel/NBC, agreed to give hosting duties a shot.
“I was pretty horrible,” said Mackay of that first stint. “I mean, you saw me do three or four takes of things today. That day, when I tried to introduce the show, I bet you we did close to 20 takes. So my level of comfort was really, really low. But we had so much fun. And you know, it’s like a little family out here. We have this crew of the same folks that do virtually every show, and it’s fun. We put the band back together, and we go here, and we go there. But that Jon Rahm experience was something that took me a little while to get over because I had a lot to learn.”
Kevin Schultz, senior director of golf content, notes the humble Mackay tries to stay in the background. He’s raking bunkers and repairing divots for the show, as the personable caddie has done for decades on Tour. But hosting a show puts him front and center, and that some getting used to.
“He’s helped us get players,” said Schultz of the show’s top-tier guests, “because they want to do it for Bones.”
While Mackay spends most of his time on the men’s side, he has called the action at women’s majors as well as the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. LPGA guests on “Playing Lessons” include major champions Patty Tavatanakit and Sophia Popov as well as the inspirational Haley Moore.
“I just love how in control the women are, you know,” said Mackay. “There’s no length being sacrificed here. But whether it’s in ‘Playing Lessons,’ or I remember doing TV at the Women’s PGA Championship at Aronimink, and Jennifer Kupcho hit 18 greens in regulation one round. I remember thinking to myself, if the men were playing out here today from the same tees, how many guys would be able to hit 18 greens in regulation, and it wasn’t going to be many. I just remember just being blown away by that ball-striking feat and how good everybody is.”
During the episode with Boutier, Mackay and senior producer Chris Graham put the French star in a fairway bunker and asked her to show how she’d advise players of varying handicap levels to proceed. Boutier hit three different shots, saving the more aggressive approach for the elite player til the end, when she hit it to 3 feet.
Scenes from Celine Boutier’s appearance on GolfPass show “Playing Lessons” at Omni ChampionsGate on Monday, March 18, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Cy Cyr / GolfPass)
Boutier hasn’t competed since the Evian, taking time to prepare for the once-in-a-lifetime experience of enjoying an Olympic Games so close to home.
While winning a major in front of a French crowd gives her more confidence, Boutier said it does nothing to minimize the pressure she feels.
“I feel like every season you start from scratch,” she said, “every week you start from scratch. It doesn’t really matter what you did before.”
Wemby knew that it was going to be a challenge to fit in to their long-established system.
The French National Team has made a name for itself on the international stage through their long, deep ties and the advantages that such an approach to team building provides. So when rising star San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama found himself joining Team France for the 2024 Paris Olympics, he knew that it was going to be a challenge to fit in to that long-established system.
“It’s about taking everything that’s given to me and communicating a lot with my teammates,” said Wembanyama in a recent interview with the Athletic’s Sam Amick. “You know, it’s about sacrifices, I’d say.”
“We’re all here for a purpose,” he added. “We’re all ready to give our spot to the next guy. So this is what it’s about.”
“The guys here who have played together for a long time,” explained Wemby. “I mean, I think Nic (Batum) and the coach have known each other, have played together for the first time 20 years ago.”
“So they know each other, and I like the way they’ve tried to install me in the system.”
Was Jayson Tatum snubbed for Team USA’s Olympics opener against Serbia?
Jayson Tatum recorded a DNP-CD during Team USA’s 110-84 win against Serbia at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday, July 28. Steve Kerr kept the Boston Celtics star on the bench despite him being fully healthy. Following the game, Kerr noted how he had some tough rotation decisions to make, and someone would be forced to miss out on a game-by-game basis.
Nevertheless, Tatum should likely have been on the court. He provides a two-way presence for Team USA and is one of the better playmakers on the roster. His size and skill would have given Kerr’s rotation a versatile presence to slide between multiple positions throughout the game.
On the latest episode of the “Celtics Chronicle” podcast, hosts Adam Taylor and Tim Sheils discuss whether Tatum’s snub was logical or whether there were other members of the roster who could have been sat in his place, especially as he’s entering the Olympics fresh off a championship run.
You can watch the full episode by clicking on the embedded link above.
Get to know the 4 athletes on the Team USA 3×3 women’s basketball roster.
The Paris Olympics are finally here, and among the many stars competing for the U.S. over the next couple of weeks is a stacked Team USA 3×3 women’s basketball roster, which includes WNBA stars Rhyne Howard and Dearica Hamby.
Women’s 3×3 basketball was first featured as an Olympic sport at the 2021 Tokyo Games, where the U.S. — with a roster that included WNBA players Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum, Allisha Gray and Stefanie Dolson — walked away a gold-medal winner.
During this year’s competition, there are several pool rounds of games (July 30 to August 3) before teams will play in the semifinal and medal games on August 5. The eight teams on the women’s side are the United States, Germany, Australia, Canada, Spain, Azerbaijan, France and China.
Let’s get into it and take a look at the roster:
Cierra Burdick
Basket Landes forward Cierra Burdick dribbles a ball against Villeneuve d’Ascq during a 2024 EuroLeague Women game. (Photo by FIBA Basketball)
Position: Forward
WNBA Team: Previously spent time on various WNBA teams
College: Tennessee
Hometown: Charlotte, NC
Dearica Hamby
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – JULY 19: Dearica Hamby #5 of the USA Women’s 3×3 team goes for the ball past Mikaylah Williams #12 of the U23 3×3 team during the 3×3 showcase in the Skills Challenge & 3-Point Contest ahead of the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game at Footprint Center on July 19, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
Position: Forward
WNBA Team: Los Angeles Sparks
College: Wake Forest
Hometown: Marietta, GA
Rhyne Howard
Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard poses in Team USA uniform. (Photo by FIBA Basketball)
Position: Guard
WNBA Team: Atlanta Dream
College: Kentucky
Hometown: Cleveland, TN
Hailey Van Lith
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – JULY 19: Hailey Van Lith #9 of the USA Women’s 3×3 team drives against Morgan Maly #13 of the U23 National 3×3 team during the 3×3 showcase in the Skills Challenge & 3-Point Contest ahead of the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game at Footprint Center on July 19, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
