The Youth Olympic Games are set to begin this week, with 64 junior golfers from 33 different countries gathering in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to play for pride and country.
The event is promoted by the International Olympic Committee and features several sports with young athletes between the ages of 15 and 18. The golf field will include 32 men and 32 women, all of whom will compete in both individual and mixed team competitions at The Hurlingham Club in Buenos Aires.
The men will compete against each other Oct. 9-11 in a 54-hole, stroke-play competition, with the women competing against each other at the same time. Once medalists have been determined, the players will take part in the team competition with fourball play on Oct. 13, foursomes play on Oct. 14 and stroke play on Oct. 15 where the scores of both players will count toward a 72-hole total.
Among the notables in the field are Americans Lucy Li and Akshay Bhatia. Li is the highest-ranked woman in the world under age 18 and has played in multiple U.S. Women’s Opens, while Bhatia was a runner-up this year at the U.S. Junior Amateur. Among those teeing it up in Buenos Aires, Bhatia is ranked behind only world No. 6 Nicolai Hoejgaard from Denmark.
Li, Bhatia and Hoejgaard are among seven players in the field who also played in the Junior Ryder Cup last month at Le Golf National. Others include Italy’s Alessia Nobilio, Sweden’s Amanda Linner, Austria’s Emma Spitz and Spain’s David Puig.
Source: Internet
