Men’s Olympic Golf Winners and Losers: Scottie Scheffler Rises, Jon Rahm Collapses

The current world No. 1 cemented his sparkling season with a gold medal while a former No. 1 had a shocking back-nine crash at Le Golf National.

Jon Rahm saw a big lead slip away Sunday and he left Le Golf National without any medal, never mind gold. / Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR/IGF

The 2024 men’s Olympic golf tournament ended with a flourish and another big-time title for the World No. 1. Who else won the week and who came up short of their Olympic dreams? Let’s dive in.

Winners

Scottie Scheffler: Wasn’t there talk about Xander Schauffele’s two majors beating the world No. 1’s green jacket and a gaggle of other Tour trophies? The scales just tilted back to the Texan after a bogey-free 9-under Sunday 62 and 529 grams: the weight of this Olympic gold medal. What a year. What a superstar.

Golf at the Olympics: Sunday's show was every bit as good as this year's majors, with a worthy champion in Scheffler and plenty of heartbreak behind him—and all in front of big, loud, celebratory crowds. The best players in the game finally care about this competition, and the next one can't get here fast enough. Who could have imagined that a decade ago?

Tommy Fleetwood: Silver stings a bit after a bogey from off the green at the 71st hole and a pulled approach at the 72nd that took a tying birdie out of the picture, but still an excellent week in front of a favorable crowd for the man who continues to climb the best-player-without-a-major list. Or is he at the top already?

Victor Perez: The Frenchman finished one shot out of a medal but will always be a hero after a back-nine 29 rally to complete a 63 in front of home fans at Le Golf National. Only Scheffler had a better final round.

Wyndham Clark: The 2023 U.S. Open champion was 4 over after his first three holes of the tournament, which did nothing to quiet those who felt that this year’s U.S. Open champ should have had his spot. But he was 15 under the rest of the way including a 65-65 weekend, finishing in a tie for 14th. We’ll see if this carries into the PGA Tour playoffs.

Losers

Jon Rahm: “This is something that’s going to sting for a while,” the Spaniard said, looking completely spent after a stunning back-nine 39 that squandered an early four-shot lead and dropped him off the medal stand entirely. A brutal exclamation point on a lost year. 

Viktor Hovland: A 67-68 weekend saved some face, but a middling finish (T30 in the 60-man field) continues his long, mystifying season after the 2023 FedEx Cup title. He’s 55th right now in the playoff standings and may not make it past Memphis.

Rory McIlroy: Three years ago in Tokyo he said he never worked so hard for a third-place finish (falling short in a seven-man playoff for bronze), Sunday he was chasing even more than that after a thrilling five straight birdies to start his back nine. But a rinsed approach at the 15th led to double bogey and an end to the charge, yet another miscue to add to the list of what-could-have-beens over the last decade.

Xander Schauffele: The “loser” label is too harsh here, but the Tokyo gold medalist slept on the co-lead Saturday night and two early birdies Sunday looked to have him in the driver’s seat. But he played 4-over golf the rest of the way and his 2-over 73 was the worst score among the top 30 finishers. Just never know in this game.