It’s Time for Meaningful Mixed Team Golf

Two years in and the Grant Thornton Invitational has settled into its silly season identity. It’s a brief glimpse at the potential of mixed events, yet it barely scratches the surface of what the format could be. It’s an enjoyable watch especially during Saturday foursomes, but the limited field and below-average venue put it firmly in exhibition status.

That being said, it should continue to be a part of the professional golf schedule. Golf is one of the few sports where men and women can compete together, and the fact that a mixed event wasn’t on the schedule for almost thirty years is a shame. The players seem to genuinely enjoy getting to know and learning from their partners throughout the week. Even if it’s only learning a few slang words for Matt Kuchar or the correct term for dog sledding for Daniel Berger (sled dogging!?!?), the two Tours can and should continue to meet up at least once a year.

The good news for fans is that high stakes mixed team golf could be coming very soon. On Saturday, Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner welcomed the International Golf Federation’s Executive Director Anthony Scanlon on air, and Scanlon confirmed that the IOC is “very seriously” considering mixed team golf for the 2028 Olympics.

The proposed change would see the mixed team event begin immediately after the men’s competition and take place over two days, with 18 holes of four-ball and 18 holes of foursomes to determine medal winners. Each country would only be eligible to have one mixed team compete. Those participants would be determined by each nation’s Olympic committees.

The proposal is not without its faults. The trickiest part of this equation is the timing, and squeezing the mixed portion in the middle of the men’s and women’s competitions isn’t ideal. With each country fielding just one mixed team, a competitive advantage could be gained with regards to the women’s individual event. The women participating in the team event would end up playing six pressure-packed rounds of golf in seven days. Additionally, the way in which each national Olympic committee chooses its mixed team is sure to come under scrutiny. World rankings will almost certainly be the main criteria, but that’s not a surefire way to give the country its best shot at a medal.

Such are the complications of mixed events in golf. On top of cramming a bunch of golf into a two-week span, the 2028 Olympic venue, Riviera Country Club, will have to be set up very carefully to test both male and female players equally. That’s no easy task given the vastly different ways the best women and men play the game. Regardless, it’s a move in the right direction that a meaningful mixed-team event could finally be coming to professional golf. From the IOC of all places. It’s a welcome turn of events that will undoubtedly be met with plenty of interest from fans and players.

It only took a few iterations for Olympic golf to establish its importance on the calendar. That importance was evident in the tears gold medalists Scottie Scheffler and Lydia Ko shed on the podium this summer in France. Those two weeks satisfied all golf fans, casual and die-hard. Expanding the competition to include a mixed-team event makes all the sense in the world.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.