Dustin Johnson will skip the 2020 Summer Olympics, with his agent telling ESPN it was important to him to focus on the FedEx Cup Playoffs at that part of the PGA Tour schedule.
“Dustin gave the Olympics a great deal of thought and we discussed the pros and cons of him participating at length,” David Winkle told Golfweek in an email. “At the end of the day, it’s a matter of personal preference and priority. As much as he would be honored to be an Olympian, the FedEx Cup Playoffs are also very important to him.”
Johnson also skipped the 2016 Games, the first time in more than a century that golf was an Olympic sport. He cited concerns over the Zika virus in Brazil, but with Japan the coronavirus outbreak was not mentioned as a reason for him to skip.
Because of how golfers qualify for the Olympics, Johnson taking his name out of consideration helps Tiger Woods.
Both the men’s and women’s golf competitions at the Olympics will have fields of 60 players. First, the top 15 players in the Official World Golf Ranking on June 22 will make the field, the only limit being a maximum of four players representing the same country. Outside the top 15, the rest of the field of 60 is filled in according to the OWGR with a limit of two players per country.
Johnson, the current No. 5-ranked player in the world, was a near-lock to be one of the U.S.’s four players. If this week’s rankings were to hold, the four Americans to qualify for the Olympics would be Brooks Koepka (world No. 3), Justin Thomas (No. 4), Patrick Cantlay (No. 6) and Webb Simpson (No. 8).
Right behind them are Patrick Reed at No. 9 and Tiger Woods at No. 11. They’re ranked more highly than many players who will end up qualifying for the Games, but due to the rules that dictate a diversity of nations are represented, they’re still in danger of not qualifying.
Reed or Woods could also qualify if a countryman decides to follow Johnson and forgo the Games. Or they could improve their OWGR seed in the next three months by winning or placing highly in tournaments.
Woods, who did not qualify for the 2016 Games, has said it’s a “big goal” of his to compete in Tokyo.
“I don’t see myself having too many opportunities other than next year,” Woods said in 2019. “Four years from now, at the next Olympic Games, I’ll be 48 years old. To be one of the top Americans at that age is going to be tough.”
The PGA Tour built in a one-week break in its schedule the week of the Olympic tournament, which will be played July 30 to Aug. 2 at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, Japan. The FedEx Cup Playoffs begin two weeks later.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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