ESPN EXCLUSIVE: Golfer set to retire after Olympics
The debate over how much being an Olympian really means for golfers who have for so long been defined by the majors will no doubt continue after this year’s showpiece.
Yet many doubters have now turned into believers about golf’s credentials at the Games after such a thrilling finale to the men’s event at Le Golf National in Paris last Sunday.
Scottie Scheffler – usually so composed even in victory – shed tears as he stepped onto the top of the podium for the United States, showing just how much a gold medal meant for the world’s best player after his epic final round.
Of course, the importance placed on representing your country in the Olympics will vary for players across both the men’s and women’s events, but the stakes have certainly been raised with huge partisan crowds in the French capital.
And for one golfer, the Olympic Games is viewed as the “perfect way” to bow out from the game altogether.
Colombian Mariajo Uribe will play her final event as a professional golfer at the Women’s Olympic Competition, starting on Wednesday.
The 34-year-old LPGA Tour player, who competed at both the Rio 2016 Games and in Toyko three years ago, outlined her intentions to call it quits in Paris as early as March. She has since travelled the globe in her bid to make sure she qualifies for an event that means so much to her.
“I mean this is my last year, I am retiring after the Paris Olympics. I just need to make points,” Uribe revealed at the Women’s NSW Open in Australia.
Fittingly, the inspired Uribe went on to win that tournament in New South Wales – just the second victory of her 15-year career – to help her qualify and become the sole representative of Colombia in the women’s event.
“My husband is happy because I don’t have to do a crazy schedule anymore,” she said afterwards. “It’s nice to get a win after so many years, it’s a nice icing on the cake.”
Uribe, a rank outsider this week in a field littered with major champions like Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu, will feel immense pride competing for a medal with her young son Lucca watching on in Paris.
“I mean three Olympics will be the perfect way to finish it off,” she said. “Now with my kid watching me play, I mean he was six months old in Tokyo, so doesn’t really remember.
“Hopefully I get to take him to Paris, and it will be a nice way to end my career.”
joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.