Michelle Wie is currently ranked 13th in the world yet she is not currently on the United States Olympic Roster. Amy Yang has a similar plight currently – 14th in the world yet not on the South Korean team currently. Although countries can carry as many as four players to the Olympics if they are in the top 15 of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Wie and Yang are currently both the fifth ranked players in their country.
Christel Boeljon, however, is the top-ranked player from the Netherlands but up until last week she would not have been going to the Olympics. That’s because the Netherlands employs their own unique rule that to play in the Olympics for them, a player must be in the top 100 of the world. Boeljon was not. At least until last week when she vaulted into the top 100 with a jump of 162 spots after a second place finish at the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer. Boeljon now sits 92nd in the world, enough to make the Olympics but barely.
“Hopefully I can show them with this that, you know, even if you’re outside the top 100, you can still win and you can still get a medal,” Boeljon said after her runner-up. “I’ve gotten close now, but I just hope to continue and go from there, just really go week by week and see where that brings me.”
Boeljon, a four-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, hinted at the country’s thinking, but it’s really quite simple – medal or bust.
“They feel that if you’re in the top 100, you have a chance of winning a medal,” Boeljon said. “If you’re outside of that, they feel like you don’t have a chance. So I think this week I kind of proved them a little bit wrong, so hopefully they can do something about it. But for now I’m still focused on doing my work in my off weeks and trying to play the best I can in the weeks that I’m playing.”
As of now, she’s in but it’s far from comfortable. Her hope is that she can fulfill one dream through the fulfillment of another by winning an LPGA Tour event. But in the meantime, all she can do is continue to play well to assure herself a spot. She made strides in that regard again on Tuesday when she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open by medaling at her sectional qualifier in The Woodlands, Texas.
“I haven’t won out here [on the LPGA]. That would be great. You know, that’s part of my dreams. But to be able to go, you know there are only a few athletes that can say they’ve gone to the Olympics,” Boeljon said. “So that is definitely on my list. I want to make it, so that’s why I’m playing and that’s what I’m striving for.”
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