With the 2021 Open Championship written in the record books, the golf world’s focus begins to shift to the Far East as Kasumigaseki Country Club prepares to host the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Golf Competition. In this sustainability spotlight, we examine the championship from a sustainability lens and a summary of who’s playing (let’s go Team USA!) and how they got there.

Golf and the Olympics

After a 112 year absence, golf made its return to the Olympic Games in 2016 when Rio de Janeiro’s Reserva de Marapendi Golf Course hosted the men’s and women’s gold medal championships. Specifically built to host golf’s return to the Olympics, Reserva de Marapendi was positioned to be opened to the public at the end of the games to help develop the sport of golf in Brazil. Now five years removed, Reserva de Marapendi GC thrives as a municipal facility that was recently recognized for its commitment and contribution to the enhancement of the native environment by achieving GEO Certified® Development status.

Once a degraded site devoid of vegetation and over-run with non-native species, Reserva de Marapendi is now actively managed by a non-profit sports body (with the help of local stakeholders) that supports nature conservation, local community recreation, education and sports development. In addition to its community leadership, the golf course also serves a valuable role as a testing and development site for establishing new sustainability standards for future golf developments.

Read HERE for a more in-depth look at the notable Nature, Resource and Community actions and achievements highlighted in Reserva de Marpendi’s GEO Certified® Development report and HERE for the International Golf Foundation’s summary of the golf course’s legacies in the Rio de Janeiro community.

Kasumigaseki Country Club & the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

The golf championships for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be held at Kasumigaseki Country Club, a private course located in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, located just northwest of Tokyo. Opened in 1929, Kasumigaseki CC is one of Japan’s elite golf courses and has hosted many Japanese national championships throughout it’s 90 year history. When the course was selected as the host facility for the 2020 Olympic Games, it was in need of two renovations: one on the golf course and one in the clubhouse. 

The first of Kasumigaseki’s renovations came courtesy of legendary golf architect Tom Fazio and his design team. Historically, Kasumigaseki CC utilized a two green per hole system that was born out of a desire to keep greens playable across Japan’s hot summers and cold winters. Fazio’s team was tasked with eliminating the outdated two-green system, updating the course’s strategic design elements (i.e., removing bunkers and repositioning tees) and making improvements to the golf course’s sustainability including the installation of a new irrigation system to better manage water usage and new turfgrass to better handle Tokyo’s seasonal fluctuations.

Kasumigaseki Country Club also implemented a few of their own sustainability measures. Utilizing the USGA’s Resource Management Tool, Kasumigaseki heat mapped the golf course to better understand resource consumption like labor, water, and nutrients and golfer flow through the golf course. The golf course redesign and heat map utilization had the combined effect of reducing costs and inputs while improving the overall golfer experience. On days when the golf course is closed, Kasumigaseki opens the course to public events and collaborates with the local Board of Education and Sports Administration to promote the sport of golf and host cultural programs as well as physical education and wellness classes.

The second renovation undertaken by the club was one that involved its membership and gender inequality. When Kasumigaseki was chosen to host the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, they didn’t allow women to become full members of the club. However, the club received pressure from the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike to change the rule. In March of 2017, Kasumigaseki voted to allow women to become full members, taking into consideration the emerging trend within the golf industry for men’s clubs to allow female members to join. 

Gov. Koike reflected upon the change: “I’m very glad to see a traditional golf club hold repeated discussions and change its rules. I believe this decision reflects the club’s views of placing more importance on women’s rights.”

Olympic Golf Competition 101

Since Olympic Golf is practically new, it seems prudent to review the structure of the tournament and mention the American’s vying for gold over the next few weeks.

Format:

A 72-hole individual stroke play championship for men and women in which the lowest aggregate score over four rounds of golf will win the gold medal. The men’s and women’s fields will each be limited to 60 players with eligibility determined by the Olympic Golf Rankings, composed of the Official World Golf Rankings. The top-15 world ranked players are eligible with a limit of four players from a given country. Players are then eligible based on the world rankings with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15.

Men’s Championship: 

Thursday, July 29 - Sunday, August 1

Team USA:

• Collin Morikawa - World Ranking: #3. Winner of 2 major championships: ‘21 Open Championship and ‘20 PGA Championship, 5 career PGA TOUR victories and his first Olympic Games. 

• Justin Thomas - World Ranking #4. Winner of 1 major championship: ‘17 PGA Championship, 14 career PGA TOUR victories and his first Olympic Games.

• Xander Schauffele - World Ranking #5. 4 career PGA TOUR victories and his first Olympic Games.

• Bryson DeChambeau - World Ranking #6. Winner of 1 major championship: ‘20 U.S. Open, 8 career PGA TOUR victories, 1 International victory and his first Olympic Games.

Other International Notables:

• Jon Rahm - Spain - World Golf Ranking #1. Winner of 1 major championship: ‘21 U.S. Open, 6 career PGA TOUR victories, 6 International victories and his first Olympic Games.

• Rory McIlroy - Northern Ireland - World Golf Ranking #15. Winner of 4 major championships: ‘12 & ‘14 PGA Championship, ‘14 Open Championship and ‘11 U.S. Open, 19 career PGA TOUR victories, 8 International victories and his first Olympic Games.

• Viktor Hovland - Norway - World Ranking # 11. 2 career PGA Tour victories, 1 International victory and his first Olympic Games.

• Hideki Matsuyama - Japan - World Ranking #20. Winner of 1 major championship: 2021 Masters, 6 career PGA TOUR victories, 8 International victories and his first Olympic Games.

Women’s Championship: 

Wednesday, August 4 - Saturday, August 7

Team USA:

• Nelly Korda - World Ranking #1. Winner of 1 major championship: 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, 6 career LPGA Tour victories and her first Olympic Games.

• Danielle Kang - World Ranking #6. Winner of 1 major championship: 2017 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, 6 career LPGA Tour victories and her first Olympic Games.

• Lexi Thompson - World Ranking #11. Winner of 1 major championship: 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship, 11 career LPGA Tour victories and her second Olympic Games (T19 in 2016).

• Jessica Korda - World Ranking #13. 6 career LPGA Tour victories and her first Olympic Games.

Other International Notables:

• Inbee Park - South Korea - World Ranking # 3. Reigning 2016 Rio Olympic Gold Medalist, winner of 7 major championships: ‘08 & ‘13 U.S. Women’s Open, ‘13 & ‘14 Wegmans LPGA Championship, ‘13 Kraft Nabisco Championship, ‘15 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, ‘15 RICOH Women’s British Open, 20 career LPGA victories and her 2nd Olympic Games.

• Brooke M. Henderson - Canada - World Ranking #7. Winner of 1 major championship: ‘16 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, 10 career LPGA Tour victories and her second Olympic Games (T7 at Rio 2016).

• Yuka Saso - Philippines - World Ranking #8. Winner of 1 major championship: ‘21 U.S. Women’s Open and her first Olympic Games.

• Lydia Ko - New Zealand - World Ranking #10. Reigning 2016 Rio Olympic Silver Medalist, winner of 2 major championships: ‘16 ANA Inspiration and ‘15 The Evian Championship, 16 career LPGA Tour victories and her second Olympic Games.