Superb defence of European men's title by Scotland, 5-2 win over Swedes in Final

SCOTTISH GOLF NEWS RELEASE

By ROSS DUNCAN

Scotland’s men’s team were celebrating a superb defence of the European Amateur Championship title after an emphatic 5 – 2 victory over Sweden in the final at Golf de Chantilly in France today.

Playing in their third final in the last four years, the Scots captured their eighth European title in style with Australian Amateur Champion Connor Syme clinching the winning point with a 4 and 3 victory over Fredrik Nilehn.

With both Scottish pairings down in the morning foursomes, it was Syme and partner Craig Howie’s superb comeback from three down with six to play to win at the 21^st which proved the turning point, after Bob MacIntyre and Sandy Scott went down 3 and 2 to their Swedish opponents.

Grant Forrest was rested for the foursomes having “not felt great” in the morning, but he came flying out of the blocks to give the Scots a 2 – 1 advantage with a 5 and 4 win over Adam Blomme, while MacIntyre held on for a crucial one hole win in the top singles match over Oskar Berquist to push the team towards victory.

Syme, who only dropped half a point during another excellent week, was always in command of his match and the Drumoig man gave Scotland the title for the second year in a row by ending his match on the fifteenth green.

Craig Howie, also undefeated in the match play stages, was all square after 16 as his match was declared a half, with Nairn’s Sandy Scott also finishing all square in the bottom match. 

Jubilant national coach Ian Rae, who has now overseen Scotland’s success in five of their European Team Championship titles, was full of praise for the players.

“The team have been superb all week. The spirit in the camp has been excellent and the players have gone out and performed so well in each of the three matches. 

"To win back-to-back titles is a great achievement and the players should be really proud of the way they’ve prepared, performed and worked together. 

“It was a tough start this morning but Connor (Syme) and Craig (Howie) were awesome in turning their match around after being three down with six to play. That win was huge for us and gave the boys momentum going into the singles. 

"Grant Forrest wasn’t well this morning, but he played superbly in his match which gave the rest of the players the spark this afternoon.

“We have strength in depth throughout this group of players and they are a great bunch of lads who won as a team. We have the World Amateur Team Championship coming later in the season, so it’ll be tough to pick our three-man team for that, which is a great problem to have.”

Scotland’s amateurs last won consecutive titles in 1975 and 1977 when the championship was played every two years, with Sweden also the beaten finalists in the latter, while the win over the Swedes was a repeat of the 1985 final in Halmstad, when Colin Montgomerie and former Walker Cup player and captain George MacGregor starred.

 

Winning team: Grant Forrest (Craigielaw), Craig Howie (Peebles), Bob MacIntyre (Glencruitten), Jamie Savage (Cawder), Sandy Scott (Nairn), Connor Syme (Drumoig).

 

Scots boys finish with a win over Czechs
Elsewhere, Scotland’s boys' team ended their week on a high by beating the Czech Republic 4 - 1 in Austria to secure seventh spot overall.
Sam Locke and Rory Franssen won the foursomes 3 and 2, and in the singles Jamie Stewart won at the 19th, Darren Howie won by 1 hole and Eric McIntosh won by 3 and 2.
Marc Watt lost by one hole.

 

The Scotland national teams are sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management and TaylorMade-adidasGolf with fantastic support from sportscotland.

 

> View full results from the European Amateur Team Championship Final.

http://www.ega-golf.ch/content/european-amateur-team-championship

Can anyone catch Swede Noren over final round of AAM Scottish Open?

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

Sweden's Alex Noren will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open after a dramatic day at Castle Stuart Golf Links on the Moray Firth coastline between Nairn and Inverness.
Conditions had been at their most helpful in the early stages with birdies and eagles the order of the day and at one point five players shared the lead as the leaderboard closed up.
Heavy rain arrived in the afternoon, however, and it was Stockholm's Noren (pictured) who came out on top at the end of the day with a 12-under-par tally of 204 after a 68 which put him two shots clear of England's Tyrrell Hatton and Italian Matteo Manassero.
Noren, who will have his 34th birthday on Monday, July 12, arrived in Scotland off the back of a top ten at the 100th Open de France while for Manassero, it is a remarkable return to form for a player without a top ten finish since this event two years ago.
Hatton, meanwhile, is going in search of a first win in his 79th European Tour event.
Danny Lee and Justin Walters are at nine-under 207, a shot clear of Andy Sullivan and Graeme McDowell.
Noren began the day with a one-shot lead but was soon caught by Hatton who had a birdie-eagle-birdie start.
A birdie on the second moved the Swede back into a share of the lead but when Manassero eagled the sixth after a brilliant second shot, he moved into the lead on his own and became the first player of the week to get to ten under.
A bogey followed on the next to move Noren back into a share of the lead but he also bogeyed the seventh before getting back to the summit with a gain on the ninth to turn in 35.
Another birdie on the tenth coupled with a Manessero bogey briefly gave Noren a two-shot lead but that did not last for long as Walters made a birdie on the last to add to gains on the first, fourth, sixth, 13th, 14th and 15th to set the clubhouse target at nine under.
Lee had gone quiet after birdieing the second but back-to-back gains on the 11th and 12th moved him ahead with Noren dropping a shot on the 12th.
Hatton made a gain on the 17th with Manassero adding one on the 14th and when Lee dropped a shot on the 13th, there was a five-way tie for the lead at nine under.
Noren edged ahead with a birdie on the 14th but Hatton made it a birdie-birdie finish to set the target at ten under and Manassero holed a bump and run on the 15th before another birdie on the next had the 23 year old in the driving seat.
But he then bogeyed the penultimate hole and with Noren making a birdie on the par three and closing with a sixth gain of the day, it was the four-time winner who was ahead again.
Sullivan had two eagles, two birdies and two bogeys in his 68 while 2008 champion McDowell came home in 32 in his 69.
Romain Wattel was then at seven under after matching Walters' low round of the week with a 65, a shot clear of Richard Bland, Jorge Campillo, Nicolas Colsaerts, Ricardo Gouveia, Martin Kaymer, Chris Paisley and Richie Ramsay.

THIRD ROUND SCOREBOARD AT CASTLE STUART

par 216

(3x72)
1	Alex Noren	70	66	68					204
T2	Tyrrell Hatton	70	70	66					206
T2	Matteo Manassero	71	67	68					206
T4	Justin Walters	72	70	65					207
T4	Danny Lee	71	66	70					207
6	Graeme McDowell	70	69	69					208
7	Romain Wattel	73	71	65					209
T8	Nicolas Colsaerts	74	70	66					210
T8	Martin Kaymer	72	70	68					210
T8	Ricardo Gouveia	72	69	69					210
T8	Chris Paisley	73	68	69					210
T8	Richie Ramsay	72	68	70					210
T8	Jorge Campillo	72	66	72					210
T8	Richard Bland	70	68	72					210
T15	Henrik Stenson	76	69	66					211
T15	Fabrizio Zanotti	77	67	67					211
T15	Bradley Dredge	71	72	68					211
T15	Niclas Fasth	72	71	68					211
T15	Alexander Levy	71	71	69					211
T15	Andy Sullivan	70	70	71					211
T15	Alejandro Canizares	74	66	71					211
T15	Padraig Harrington	70	69	72					211
T23	Soren Kjeldsen	74	72	66					212
T23	David Drysdale	72	74	66					212
T23	Patrick Reed	75	70	67					212
T23	David Howell	72	72	68					212
T23	Richard Sterne	71	73	68					212
T23	Steve Webster	74	70	68					212
T23	Magnus A. Carlsson	72	71	69					212
T23	Luke Donald	71	72	69					212
T23	Nacho Elvira	72	70	70					212
T23	Scott Hend	69	73	70					212
T23	Russell Knox	72	70	70					212
T23	Branden Grace	71	67	74					212
T35	Mike Lorenzo-Vera	74	69	70					213
T35	Callum Shinkwin	74	69	70					213
T35	Mikko Ilonen	71	71	71					213
T35	Felipe Aguilar	69	72	72					213
T35	Eddie Pepperell	70	67	76					213
T40	Tommy Fleetwood	74	72	68					214
T40	Maximilian Kieffer	75	71	68					214
T40	Jack Doherty	72	73	69					214
T40	Julien Quesne	73	72	69					214
T40	Robert Rock	72	73	69					214
T40	Rafa Cabrera Bello	71	73	70					214
T40	Prom Meesawat	74	70	70					214
T40	Raphael Jacquelin	73	71	70					214
T40	Thomas Bjorn	73	70	71					214
T40	Thomas Pieters	73	70	71					214
T40	Ashun Wu	72	69	73					214
T51	Ross Fisher	76	70	69					215
T51	Joachim B. Hansen	73	73	69					215
T51	Renato Paratore	72	74	69					215
T51	Steve Stricker	74	71	70					215
T51	Matt Ford	74	71	70					215
T51	Edoardo Molinari	72	73	70					215
T51	Phil Mickelson	76	69	70					215
T51	Lucas Bjerregaard	76	69	70					215
T51	Gregory Havret	73	71	71					215
T51	Lee Slattery	74	70	71					215
T51	Anthony Wall	75	69	71					215
T51	Y.E. Yang	70	71	74					215
T63	Johan Carlsson	75	70	71					216
T63	Ryan Evans	73	72	71					216
T63	Nino Bertasio	72	72	72					216
T66	Joakim Lagergren	72	74	71					217
T66	Gareth Wright	74	71	72					217
T66	Oliver Wilson	75	70	72					217
T66	Benjamin Hebert	75	68	74					217
T66	Marc Warren	73	69	75					217
71	Andrew Dodt	72	74	72					218
T72	Michael Hoey	74	72	74					220
T72	Jamie McLeary	74	72	74					220
T72	Chris Hanson	75	70	75					220
T72	Pablo Larrazabal	73	72	75					220
76	Sebastien Gros	75	71	76					222

Jason Day arrives early for Open

World number one Jason Day has arrived early at Royal Troon to get a feel for the conditions ahead of next week's Open Championship.

BROOKS KOEPKA HAS WITHDRAWN

Brooks Koepka has withdrawn from The Open and is replaced by Colt Knost, United States.
The next three competitors on the reserve list are as follows:

1st Reserve: Jon Curran, United States

2nd Reserve: Kevin Streelman, United States

3rd Reserve: Jason Bohn, United States

Andrew Oldcorn moves into the seniors' 

mix in Germany

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Joint overnight leader Gordon Manson, originally from Fife, 
dropped back to three shots off the pace in the Winston Seniors Open at Vorbeck, Germany.
But another Scot, Andrew Oldcorn, pictured, has moved up with a 69 for one-under 139 to be only one shot behind joint leaders Peter Fowler (Australia) (68-70) and Sweden's Magnus Atlevi (69-69).
English stalwarts Simon P Brown, Paul Wesselingh and Paul Broadhurst are in a group of five in joint sixth place, one behind the ever-dangerous Bernhared Langer, on 141.
Oldcorn, Brown, Wesselingh and Broadhurst will be heading for Meldrum House Hotel and golf course in Aberdeenshire after this one.
They are in the field of more than 100 for the 2nd Aberdeen Senior Masters over 54 holes from Tuesday to Thursday next week.
No admission charge for spectators and car parking is also free at the exclusive Oldmeldrum venue.
See you there!
LEADERBOARD
par 140 (2x70)
138 Peter Fowler (Australia) 68 70, Magnus Atlevi (Sweden) 69 69
139 Philip Golding (England) 68 71, Andrew Oldcorn (Scotland) 70 69.
140 Bernhard Langer (Germany) 71 69
141 Mark Mouland (Wales) 71 70, Simon P Brown (England) 73 68, Paul Wesselingh (England) 68 73, Gordon Manson (Scotland/Austria) 68 73, Paul Broadhurst (England) 70 71

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE

Scott Henry in triple tie for Slovakia Challenge 

lead with Rai and Langasque

FROM THE CHALLENGE TOUR WEBSITE
with a few amendments by Colin Farquharson 
 Scott Henry, Englishman Aaron Rai and Frenchman Romain Langasque are tied for the pole position with one round to go in the Slovakia Challenge at the Penati Golf Resort.
Rai moved into the title picture with a three under par third round of 69 as windy conditions in Senica made scoring more difficult than on the first two days.
Langasque also shot 69 to reach 13 under par overall, with Henry  signing for a 70.
Rai, whose best finish this season is a tie for third at the Turkish Airlines Challenge, eagled the par six 15^th hole – the longest hole in Europe – and credited his time playing on the EuroPro Tour for preparing him for the step up to the Challenge Tour this year.
“It was tough today,” said the 21 year old. “There was quite a lot of wind and with all the trees we’ve got out there it can blow in all directions, so it was tricky with the approach shots to get your distances.
“I think tee to green I was very solid and I also holed a couple of putts which was nice – to eagle the par six is a cool thing to be able to say. It was into the wind, so was playing its full 783 yards, but I hit a very good third shot into the green.
“It will be nice to be in the final group tomorrow but, as boring as it sounds, you’ve just got to try to do the same things you’ve been doing all week, just stick to the gameplan and hopefully it will go well.
“In this game, when you get a little bit overconfident you can go for shots maybe you shouldn’t and it’s very important not to get too far ahead of yourself – I’m feeling relatively confident and hopefully will stick to the same things tomorrow.
“After having a few good weeks, it makes you feel quite settled even though the Challenge Tour is relatively new – it’s nice to feel a bit more comfortable at events and I’m looking forward to giving it my best shot now to win.
“The EuroPro has a great standard and is producing a lot of good players year in year out and that’s shown by how well they step up to the Challenge Tour, it’s a great breeding ground.
“You have to play very well during the whole year to finish in the top five there so if you do that, you’re ready to make that step up onto the Challenge Tour – I definitely brought confidence from that into this season.”.
Now in paid ranks, the Frenchman has maintained relentlessly good form this season, adding two more top five finishes and not missing a cut in his 11 events so far.
The 21 year old mixed seven birdies with four bogeys in his third round, and he will be looking for a maiden professional victory to move up from his current position of seventh in the Road to Oman Rankings.
Henry led for much of the day, early birdies moving him clear of the chasing pack, before dropped shots on the 15^th and the 17^th left the Scot tied at the top.
Overnight leader Espen Kofstad’s hopes of qualifying for the Olympic Games with a top two finish suffered a major setback as the Norwegian shot a three over par 75 to end the day four shots behind the leaders.

THIRD-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 216 (3x72)
203 Scott Henry (Sco) 68 65 70, Romain Langasque (Fra) 66 68 6, Aaron Rai (Eng) 70 64 69
204 Damien Perrier (Fra) 68 68 68
205 Cormac Sharvin (NIre) 70 64 71, Pedro Oriol (Spa) 67 70 68, James Heath (Eng) 71 65 69.

OTHER SCOT'S SCORE
209 David Law 69 70 70 (T28)

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE

Scotland retain European men's amateur title 

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Scotland have won the European men's amateur team championship for the second year in a row.
They beat Sweden 5-2 in the final at Chantilly Golf Club, France today.
Conor Syme and Craig Howie scored an important win at the 21st hole in the opening foursome against Martin Erikson and Fredrik Nilehn.
Had they lost Scotland would have trailed 2-0 going into the five singles, because Robert MacIntyre and Sandy Scott lost their foursome by 3 and 2 to Robin Petersson and Hannes Ronneblad.
The Scots did not lose a tie in taking the singles by a 4-1 margin.
Left-hander MacIntyre won by one hole against Oskar Berqvist and Grant Forrest was a 5 and 4 winner over Adam Blomme.
Syme beat Nilehn by 4 and 3.
Howie and Scott halved their singles gies against Petersson and Ronneblad respectively. 
Scots boys finish with a win over Czechs
Scotland's boys beat the Czech Republic  4-1 in their last match of the European boys' team championship flight in Austria.
Sam Locke and Rory Franssen won the foursomes 3 and 2, and in the singles Jamie Stewart won at the 19th, Darren Howie won by 1 hole and Eric McIntosh won by 3 and 2.
Marc Watt lost by one hole.

Daniel Kay top Scot in Dusseldorf Open

Daniel Kay from Dunbar earned 1,027 euros for a tied sixth finish in the German PGA Developmental Tour's Dusseldorf Open at Kosaido International Golf Club today.
Kay had rounds of 70, 67 and 67 for an aggregate of six-under-par 204 round the par-70 course. 
He finished seven shots behind the German winner of the 5,000 euros first prize, Hinrich Arkenau whose first pro win it was.
Ellon's Ross Cameron (68-70-70) and Kevin Duncan (69-72-67) tied for 22nd place on 208 and earned 386 euros each.
Former Scottish amateur champion Chris Robb (Meldrum House) shot 66-73-71 for 210 and a share of 29th place for which he earned 342 euros.
Young Sam Kiloh (Paul Lawrie GolfCentre) earned 302 euros for a total of 212 (70-69-73) and joint 36th place among the 48 qualifiers for the final day.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 210 (3x70)
197 H Arkenau (Ger) 65 63 69
199 K Subregis (Fra) 66 71 62 
200 A Schwartz (Fra) 63 69 68
SCOTS' TOTALS
204 D Kay 70 67 67 (T6) (1,027 euros)
208 R Cameron 68 70 70, K Duncan 69 72 67 (T22) (386 euros each)
210 C Robb 66 73 71 (T29) (342 euros)
212 S Kiloh 70 69 73 (T36) (302 euros)
210 C Robb 66 73 71 (T29) 

Irish pair win first R and A nine-hole 

tournament at Royal Troon

A group of 30 amateur men and women golfers participated in a new nine hole championship staged by The R and A at Royal Troon earlier today.

The group participated in a handicap pairs competition at the historic Ayrshire links just five days before The 145^th Open gets underway, playing holes 1-5 on the front nine, before tackling holes 15-18 coming down the home stretch.

Denis Gaffney and John Prendergast from the Island Golf Club, Dublin were the overall winners and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of playing in a nine-hole competition on the eve of golf’s oldest Championship.

“John and I had a wonderful time today. Just to come here was the prize, never mind winning the competition,” said Gaffney. 

“It was brilliant. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was our first time here and this is also the first time we’ve played in a nine-hole competition.

“People will find nine-hole golf handy in the evenings and the weekends. Not everybody can play 18 holes at the weekend with family commitments. It’s great for the game."

The R and A is working with national golf bodies in Great Britain and Ireland to promote nine-hole golf as a quick and enjoyable way to play golf, either socially or competitively.

A new digital campaign, including a video featuring a number of the world’s top golfers, was launched yesterday using the Twitter hashtags #PlayNine and #getintogolf.

The players appearing in the video are: Carly Booth, Mel Reid, Charley Hull, Barry Lane, Justin Walters, Christina Kim, Catriona Matthew, Nicolas Colsaerts, Martin Kaymer, Matteo Manassero, Jamie McLeary, Dame Laura Davies, Thomas Levet, Austin Ernst, Thorbjorn Olesen, Padraig Harrington and Romain Bechu.

Duncan Weir, Executive Director – Working for Golf at The R and A, said, “We are delighted to be working closely with the other organisations to promote nine hole golf as a perfectly valid form of the game. 

"We want to remind people that they can enjoy golf in less time, whether playing socially or competitively. There are more and more nine-hole events throughout the country and we certainly support this format as a great way of playing golf.”

.

Imrie v McGowan final in Fife men's amateur match-play championship

This weekend's Fife men's amateur match-play championship results  at Thornton Golf Club:
QUARTER-FINALS
Ally Hain (St Andrews) bt Liam Ratcliffe (Leven Th) 4 and 3.
David Imrie (Lundin) bt Andy Collier (Duke's) 1 hole.
Colin Mackenzie (Balbirnie Park) bt John Douglas (Leven Th) 3 and 2.
Blaine McGowan (Thornton) bt Alan Tulleth (St Andrews) 6 and 5. 
 SEMI-FINALSImrie bt Hain  6 and 5
McGowan bt MacKenzie 1hole

Henderson, Kerr and McKechnie tie at 

Hayston pro-am with five-under-par 65s

Scott Henderson (Kings Links), Mark Kerr (Marriott Dalmahoy) and Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills) figured in a triple tie for first place with five-under-par 65s in today's Hayston Golf Club shotgun pro-am.
They earned £533 each for finishing two strokes ahead of joint fourth Graham Fox (Clydeway Golf) and Greig Hutcheon (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Inchmarlo) who earned £362 each.
Steven O'Hara (unattached) led the Clyde Scaffolding No. 6 team of Scott Bissett (handicap 14), Gavin Cattanach (15) and Keith Edgar (14) to victory in the pro-am team event with a net total of 15-under-par 55.
PRO SCORES
par 70
65 S Henderson (Kings Links), M Kerr (Marriott Dalmahoy), Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills), £533 each.
67 G Fox (Clydeway Golf), G Hutcheon (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Inchmarlo), £362 each.
68 J McCreadie (Largs), C Ronald (Carluke), £312 each.
69 C Kelly (unatt), C Currie (unatt), £262 each
70 G Hay (Grantown on Spey) £220
61 R Arnott (Bishopbriggs), S Binning (Mearns Castle), £190 each.
72 S O'Hara (unatt) £160
73 C Gordon (Edinburgh GC) £140
74 P Robinson (Largs), G Hardy (Prestwick St Nicholas), S Gray (Lanark) £110 each. 
75 C Tierney (Bishopbriggs) £90
76 S Clelland (Hayston) £80
77 P Kerr (Hayston) £75

Ian Fyfe Takes Lothians' Seniors Title

Ian Fyfe Lothians Seniors Champion 2016

Congratulations to Ian Fyfe (Musselburgh) who came out on top at the Lothians Seniors Championship at Newbattle. Carding a Gross 70 Ian captured the R M Lee Trophy for the best scratch score, while his net score of 67 also claimed the Ian McNiven Quaich on countback from runner up Peter Hardwick (Newbattle). In the age group categories, the results were as follows: Cat A: 55-59 1st Handicap Alex Burnett (Harburn) 68 2nd Handicap John Masterton (Mortonhall) 69 3rd Handicap Ian Ferrier (Baberton) 70 1st Scratch Ian Dickson (Gullane) 71 (back 9 ) 2nd Scratch Duncan Hamilton (Mortonhall) 71 Cat B: 69-68 1st Handicap Ian Fyfe (Mussellburgh) 67 2nd Handicap Joe Gillan (Dunbar) 68 3rd Handicap Wilson Morton (Dunbar) 69 1st Scratch Peter Hardwick (Newbattle) 71 2nd Scratch Lindsay Gordon (Turnhouse) 72 Cat C: 69 and Above 1st Handicap David Meldrum (Uphall) 68 2nd Handicap George Eddington (Liberton) 71 3rd Handicap Norman Hendry (West Lothian) 74 1st Scratch Cameron Stewart (Dunbar) 77 2nd Scratch Stanley Scott ( Linlithgow) 81 The CSS was 70 for all players and full results can be viewed on the web site the "Competitions - Seniors" tab at the top of the Home page.

Link to third round of Challenge Tour

CLICK HERE

Link to third round scores at the AAM Scottish Open at Castle Stuart

CLICK HERE

Now US Open champion Dustin Johnson 

withdraws from Olympics golf

FROM SKYSPORTS.COM
US Open champion Dustin Johnson has become the latest golfer to withdraw from the Olympics over fears of the Zika virus.
Several players, including world number one Jason Day and four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy, have already pulled out of Rio 2016, citing worries over the virus, and Johnson has become the first American to do so.
Zika is a mosquito-borne virus which has been linked to defects in newborn babies and Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome which causes temporary paralysis in adults.

"As an athlete, I can think of no greater honour than representing the United States in the Olympic Games," Johnson said in a statement released by his agent David Winkle.

"However, after much careful consideration and discussion with both my family and my team, I have made the decision to withdraw from the 2016 Olympic Games.
"This was not an easy decision for me, but my concerns about the Zika virus cannot be ignored. Paulina (Gretzky, Johnson's fiancee) and I plan to have more children in the near future, and I feel it would be irresponsible to put myself, her or our family at risk.
"I believe I am making the right decision for me and most importantly my family.

Johnson believes it would be 'irresponsible' to put himself and his family at risk of the Zika virus

"While I am sure some will be critical of my decision, my hope is that most will understand and support it. That being said, those who choose to compete in Rio certainly have my respect and best wishes for an unforgettable and safe experience."
In addition to Day and McIlroy, US Open runner-up Shane Lowry has withdrawn and earlier this week, Hideki Matsuyama added his name to the list.
Australian pair Marc Leishman and Adam Scott, South African trio Branden Grace, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel and Fiji's Vijay Singh will also not compete in Brazil, while Graeme McDowell pulled out because his wife is due to have their second child soon after the Games finish.
Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge has also decided not to compete in Brazil but his reasons are mainly financial as he is more concerned about securing his PGA Tour card for next season.