[Photo: Getty images]
Min Woo Lee says he would “give it all we’ve got” if he and LPGA superstar sister Minjee qualify for the mixed team golf event confirmed for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
On Wednesday in the US (Thursday AEST), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that several new medal opportunities would be added in a variety of sports when the Games travel to Southern California. Among them was golf, which will debut a mixed-team event that will be held in addition to the individual men’s and women’s tournaments scheduled for Riviera Country Club in 2028.
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On Thursday in the US, Min Woo was ecstatic at the announcement, and his first reaction was to wonder whether two-time major winner Minjee, who would be 32 when the LA Olympics rolls around, would still be playing competitive golf.
“That would be very cool,” Min Woo said after round one at the Masters. “When I saw [the announcement], I was thinking, Is my sister going to play another four years? I’m pretty sure I will be. I don’t know, it’s not replacing the original, though, is it? It’s adding, so that would be awesome. I would love to team up with her and give it all we got.”
The specific format for the mixed-team event is still to be determined. The International Golf Federation had previously proposed a two-player, 16-team competition over 36 holes that would feature one round of four-ball play and one round of foursomes (alternate shot). The teams would be selected from the 60 men and 60 women already qualified for individual play based on the Olympic Golf Ranking.
In the IGF proposal, the mixed-team event would be held on the Sunday and Monday between the men’s and women’s individual competitions. Last year in Paris, Jason Day and Min Woo were the men’s team while Minjee and Hannah Green were the women’s team. Minjee has played on each of the three Australian women’s golf teams (2016, 2021, 2024) since golf was reintroduced to the Olympics in 2016 after a 112-year absence.
Currently, the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour hold an unofficial mixed-team event, the Grant Thornton Invitational in December. Day and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko won that event two years ago.
“The mixed events are a real true embodiment of gender equality − men and women competing in the same team, on the same field of play for their country,” IOC sports director Kit McConnell said in a news conference. “We’ve seen the real success of these (mixed-gender events). They bring something incredibly special for the athletes involved.”
In 2032, the Olympics heads to Brisbane.
