Berne (Switzerland), April 30 (IANS) Golfers now will accumulate Olympic Golf Rankings (OGR) points through a period ending on June 21 and 28 next year for the men and the women respectively, the International Golf Federation (IGF) has said.

The adjustment to the qualifying system for the Tokyo Olympic Games was made by the IGF and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to accommodate the new dates of the competition in 2021, reports Xinhua news agency.

The field for both men and women will consist of 60 players.

The OGR is based on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) for men and the Women's World Golf Rankings (WWGR). The Governing Boards of the OWGR and WWGR determined on March 20 the rankings would be suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
An announcement about the resumption of each respective ranking will be made in due course.

"Having received from the IOC confirmation of the dates for when the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be held and the qualification principles, the fairest and most equitable way to determine the qualifying athletes was to align the previous qualification system with these new dates," said Antony Scanlon, IGF Executive Director.

The top-15 players at the end of the qualifying period will be eligible for the Olympics, with a limit of four players from a given country.

Beyond the top-15, players will be eligible based on their world rankings, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top-15.

The host country will be guaranteed a spot, as will each of the five continental regions.

--IANS aak/