Amidst a professional golf landscape increasingly watered down by cash infusions and repeated failed attempts at innovation, the men’s Olympic golf competition took center stage and delivered arguably the most exciting weekend of golf in 2024. It provided drama, passion, and a range of emotional reactions perhaps rivaled only by what we observe at the Ryder Cup.

Sunday’s scenes included Frenchman Victor Perez charging up the leaderboard, bolstered by an inspiring display of strong local support.

Tom Kim wiped away tears in the scoring area after coming up short of finishing on the podium. After squandering a four-shot lead and failing to earn a medal, Jon Rahm relayed to Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard that his finish “stings on a different emotional level. It hurts right now more than I expected.” And the action-packed day concluded with Scottie Scheffler wearing a gold medal around his neck, weeping at the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner.

As much as golfers try to separate themselves from being defined by results, Sunday highlighted how special golf can be when the results feel like they truly matter.

There are many facets to golf’s successful Olympic return. It’s embedded into the fabric of the Olympic Games, an institution with global appeal and historical significance. Participation in the Olympics offers athletes the opportunity to be part of something larger, to represent something bigger than themselves. After winning the gold medal, Scottie Scheffler admitted to getting emotional as he watched Team USA win gold in women’s gymnastics a few days ago. It’s easy to imagine the infectious energy of competing under the same flag as Simone Biles, or alongside any of the other incredible athletes in Paris who dedicate their lives to their crafts and generally don’t have week in, week out access to $20M prize funds.

I also found myself riveted by the “Finish in the Top Three or Go Home Empty-Handed” dynamic. Most weeks in professional golf, the only gut-wrenching gap is the difference between first and second. At the Olympics, finishing third versus fourth also carries significant weight, all but ensuring palpable intensity down the closing stretch. (We’d normally embed highlights here, but the various YouTube channels officially licensed for Olympic highlights in the United States don’t allow embedded playing anyway. But you can find them here!)

Three editions into the return of golf to the Olympics, the event seems to have firmly established its place within the golf world, for the men and women both. I don’t think it’s particularly important to put a finger on exactly where an Olympic medal stacks up within the realm of pro golf accomplishments. But it’s clearly evident that medaling in the Olympics carries meaning, meaning which only seems likely to increase going forward. The absence of dollar signs, FedEx Cup updates, and LIV logos has never felt more refreshing than it felt the past four days in Paris. It was a welcome reprieve from the nonsense and money shuffling that’s dominated the professional golf airwaves for much of the last few years.

So while four years may seem like a long time to have to anticipate the next edition of men’s Olympic golf at Riviera, remember that scarcity is an important ingredient to the appeal of the tournament. Golf’s rarest events continue to be the most special. Looking forward, few golf tournaments seem as well-positioned for success as golf at the Olympic Games.

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