Unlike other sports where athletes had already qualified, golf was not thrown into any significant chaos when the Olympics were postponed until 2021 because of the new coronavirus.
Eligibility for each country is determined by the world ranking about a month before the start of competition. The ranking was frozen during the shutdown in golf, and one can only speculate when the sport will resume.
Justin Thomas said he was "bummed" to hear about the postponement, though he understood and said it was the right decision.
Whenever it's played, it'll be great and I hope I'm a part of the team, Thomas said in a text message Tuesday.
Antony Scanlon, executive director of the International Golf Federation, said from his home in Switzerland the news was too fresh to determine the next step. It's likely that whenever the Olympics are scheduled, the cutoff for the world ranking will be set accordingly.
The question going forward is which players it helps or hurts.
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And that starts with Tiger Woods, whom Olympic organizers would love to see in Tokyo chasing a gold medal.
Woods was No. 4 among Americans going into the year (as many as four players from a country are eligible if all are in the top 15) but has slipped to No. 6 after playing only twice this year. He has said his back wasn't ready to play in Mexico City and at Bay Hill and The Players. And now there's no golf for at least two months.
That wouldn't have helped his chances. Now he gets another year. He'll also be another year older, 45, and Woods already is starting to reduce his schedule.
Brooks Koepka was leaning against the Olympics because of the slow start to his season brought on by injury.
Now he might rethink the schedule depending on where the Olympics fall in 2021. Dustin Johnson indicated even before COVID-19 became a pandemic that the Olympics would make it difficult for him to be ready for the FedEx Cup.
For the women, it could be a bonus for Inbee Park, the defending gold medalist.
Currently, Park would be the first reserve among the South Korean powerhouse team. She added to her schedule at the start of the year to improve her ranking and now gets more time. Albane Valenzuela of Switzerland, who turned pro late last year after a decorated career at Stanford, currently holds the final spot in the women's field.
She qualified for the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016 as an amateur.
"This was one of the reasons I decided to turn professional. I knew that it would be hard to qualify, but that if I played in enough tournaments, and made some cuts, I would have a fair chance," Valenzuela told GolfChannel.com.
The rest of the outcome is based on form, always fickle in golf.
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"If I have the opportunity in hand, I have a good chance of keeping my card this year," she said. "I'm just worried about when we're getting out of this break."
"You just have to be solid about your goals and have a picture of what kind of golfer you want to be, pushing forward and working hard. And I have a clear image of that. I'm a rookie. I'm trying to get up there. I have a lot to work on."