Spain is sending four golfers to Paris to the 2024 Olympics, and all four played for the same college: Arizona State.
Jon Rahm and David Puig, who both play on LIV Golf, are the Spanish duo in the 60-man field for the men’s competition. Rahm played for the Sun Devils from 2012 to 2016; Puig was there 2019 to 2022.
Rahm is heading to Le Golf National fresh off his first win on the LIV circuit.
“I’m really looking forward to sharing the week with David,” he said Sunday in London. “It’s going to be fantastic, and hopefully one of us can leave with the gold.”
It’ll be the first Olympics for each. Rahm was set to compete three years ago in Tokyo but a positive COVID test kept him on the sidelines.
“Hard to position myself on where the magnitude of something like that may be, but to be able to say that you have a gold medal or an Olympic medal for that matter is something that a very small group of people in all human history can say,” he said. “I don’t think it might have the recognition it could have yet, but in the future this may be one of those things that means a lot more than we’re aware of right now. Just to be able to add to a Spanish medal count would be absolutely amazing.”
Arizona State’s Jon Rahm at the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (The Arizona Republic)
Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz will represent Spain on the women’s side, which also has 60 players. Ciganda was at ASU 2008 to 2011; Munoz was there 2005 to 2008. She won the NCAA individual title in 2008. Ciganda helped ASU win the NCAA team title in 2009.
Munoz and Ciganda are heading to their third Olympics. Munoz finished 21st in the 2016 Games in Brazil and 50th in 2021. Ciganda finished 39th in 2016 and 29th in 2021.
ASU has five former women golfers in all heading to France. Joining Munoz and Ciganda will be Italy’s Alessandra Fanali, Germany’s Alexandra Forsterling and Sweden’s Linn Grant.
“It’s fantastic. We’re so excited (to see the five Sun Devils alums competing in the Olympics),” ASU women’s coach Missy Farr-Kaye told cronkitenews.com. “It’s amazing, and it really speaks to the level of our Olympic teams and how well (they do) across the board.”
The men’s competition is Aug. 1-4, while the women will be Aug. 7-10 and Le Golf National, which hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup. The events will be 72 holes of stroke play, with the top three finishers winning gold, silver and bronze medals.
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