Xander Schauffele has been asked whether he is content with the Olympic golf format in its current guise ahead of the Paris event at Le Golf National.
Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm are the star names competing in what is a traditional 72-hole stroke play event.
2024 Open winner Schauffele is the defending champion and will be well-fancied to land his second gold medal.
Le Golf National promises to provide a stern test, and Schauffele is pleased the rough has been trimmed at the Olympic venue.
Xander Schauffele highlights ‘issue’ with Olympic format change
There have been suggestions that the 2024 Olympic golf format should be match-play or at least incorporate something slightly different.
Min Woo Lee claimed he would love to see a team aspect introduced for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Schauffele, however, highlighted the busy end-of-season schedule as a sticking point.
“I feel like traditional. As I get older, I start to look at things. I’m probably more traditional than not,” explained the 2024 Open Championship winner. “So, I have no problem with a 72-hole format. It seems to be fine.
“I think having a match-play event would be kind of weird. So that’s just my take on that.”
Schauffele added, “Then with the co-sex play, I’m a big advocate of don’t knock on it until you try it. My only issue with it would be the run of events—it being two weeks in a row.
“If you take it for what we have now, we are playing this tournament, we have one week off, and then we have three weeks in a row for our Playoffs. It would be sticky to do two tournaments in a row, and because of that, you may lose some guys.”
Olympic golf history
Golf returned to the Olympics in 2016, where Englishman Justin Rose was victorious in Rio. Before the Brazilian games, golf was last featured in 1904.
Unsurprisingly, the USA has the best record at the Olympics, claiming 13 medals, including five golds.
From a player’s perspective, keeping the event traditional and reducing the time spent competing is preferable. However, a more engaging match-play format could have been introduced for spectators.
The Olympics is the biggest stage and the ideal chance to grow the game. Match-play, as we all know, throws up the most exciting moments, so this does feel like an opportunity missed by the organisers.
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