GOLF

Golf consists of striking a ball into a series of holes using a selection of clubs and counting the number of strokes it takes to do so. An official sport at the Paris 1900 and St. Louis 1904 Games, golf then vanished from the programme until it returned at Rio 2016.

RULES OF THE GAME

There are two main tournament formats: match play, in which two golfers compete against each other hole-by-hole; and stroke play, in which the total number of shots taken is counted. Stroke play is used at the Games, with athletes playing four rounds of 18 holes over four days, giving a total of 72 holes. 60 men and 60 women participate, based on the world rankings as compiled by the International Golf Federation.

Each hole is assigned a predetermined number of strokes depending on its degree of difficulty and length from the tee to green — for example, three, four or five. A player who succeeds in hitting the ball into the hole with that number of strokes is said to have achieved par. Doing so with one stroke less is called a birdie, while doing so with two strokes less is known as an eagle. By contrast, using one stroke more than par is known as a bogey and two strokes over par is a double bogey. It's typical for an 18-hole golf course to have a par of 72. A player who finishes with 71 strokes on a 72-par course is said to be 'one under', while a player who finishes the same course with 74 strokes is said to be 'two over'.