Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
ALIV Golf player suggested the South African Olympic team put the wrong PGA Tour golfers on its team for Paris.
This past Monday, the International Golf Federation released the golfers who will represent their home countries at the 2024 Olympics in Paris later this summer. That list includes seven LIV Golf players who will represent their nations.
Then, on Thursday, ahead of the LIV Golf Nashville event, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, and Dean Burmester—all South African players—detailed what it felt like not to make the South African Olympic team. PGA Tour players Erik van Rooyen and Christiaan Bezuidenhout will represent the country instead.
Grace felt strongly that the Olympic committee got it wrong.
“These are the two guys [Burmester and Oosthuizen] that should be representing South Africa this year,” Grace said ahead of the Nashville tournament.
“I think that’s maybe a good call for each country to pick or try to get their own solution on how they get the criteria right for guys to qualify. But the system at this stage is not very accurate. We all know that. We all talk about it, week in and week out, but these should be the two guys probably representing South Africa.”
Burmester won his first LIV Golf title in Miami earlier this year. Not to mention, he has three other top-10 finishes. The worst performance came at LIV Las Vegas, but for the most part, he has played well.
At the two major championships, Burmester tied for 12th at the PGA Championship. He then captured 69th place at the U.S. Open last week.
Oosthuizen, meanwhile, has two runner-up finishes this year at LIV Adelaide and LIV Jeddah. Two more top-10s followed suit at Mayakoba and Miami. While he has been successful, the Olympics are not high on his radar.
“I grew up with the four majors being your main events, and I don’t really see the fit of professional golfers playing golf in the Olympics,” Oosthuizen said.
“I had the opportunity to go to one of the Olympics and pulled out at the end. It was more getting scheduling-wise getting everything—I think it was close to a major, and that was my main focus always, majors, so the Olympics didn’t fit into my schedule that year.”
Oothusizen represented his country at the World Cup and in the Presidents Cup before, so missing the Olympics is not a big deal to him. Regardless of tour affiliation, he wished the two participants good luck.
“I hope the boys play well and that they perform well, and it’s still going to be a strong South African team playing,” Oosthuizen said.
Burmester followed suit, praising van Rooyen and Bezuidenhout for their performances. Van Rooyen has one runner-up finish, three top 10s, and seven top 25s. As for Bezuidenhout, he has second place at the American Express. He also has three top 10s and nine top 25s. Bezuidenhout was solo fourth at The Memorial in one of his most recent starts.
“Christiaan and Erik are going to do South Africa proud, and they’ve also played some great golf in their own right,” Burmester said.
“I think Louis and I look like Olympians, first of all,” Burmester said. “It would be an honor to go to the Olympics and represent your country. I think it’s the field we have, and those two guys are going to have that opportunity, so it’s super special, and we can only wish them well.”
Taking the high road and wishing two of their fellow South Africans luck in Paris is the proper way to handle it. While they did not get chosen to play in the Olympics, it seems they understand why.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
