Olympics 2028: Mixed Team Golf Event to Make Its Debut
04/16/2025 by Golf Post Editors
For the first time, a mixed-gender team event will be held in Olympic golf – a step with both sporting and symbolic significance.
Mixed team golf at the 2028 Olympics for the first time (Photo:Getty)
With a historic innovation, golf will take a new step forward at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles: a mixed team event will be introduced for the first time. Approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the competition will take place between the men’s and women’s individual tournaments at the Riviera Country Club. This marks a milestone in the still-young Olympic golf history, which only returned to the Olympic program in 2016. In addition to the established men’s and women’s individual competitions, the mixed team event brings a new dimension to Olympic golf – focusing on team play, something that has long been absent from the Olympic schedule.
Mixed team event makes its debut in the Olympic program
The mixed team tournament will consist of two rounds of 18 holes each. The first round will follow the foursomes format, where the female and male players alternate shots. The second round will be a four-ball round – both players play their own ball, and the better score per hole counts towards the team’s total. Each nation is allowed to enter only one team, consisting of one male and one female athlete who are already competing in the individual tournaments. The decision to include this new format was made in close coordination with the International Golf Federation. The mixed team event is expected to give golf greater visibility within the Olympic Games.
Golf’s growing significance at the Olympics
This means golf joins the ranks of six sports that offer a mixed-gender competition in the Olympic program. Other sports with similar formats include archery, athletics with the 4×100-meter mixed relay, as well as table tennis and rowing.
Golf has only been part of the official Olympic program again since the 2016 Games in Brazil, making it one of the newer disciplines. The mixed team competition marks the first addition of a team format in Olympic golf since 1904.
At the most recent Games in Paris, Lydia Ko (gold), Esther Henseleit (silver), and Xiyu Lin (bronze) won medals in the women’s individual event. In the men’s competition, Scottie Scheffler claimed gold, Tommy Fleetwood took silver, and Hideki Matsuyama earned bronze.
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