Canada’s Sharp, Henderson ready for ‘electric atmosphere’ at Olympic golf tournament

Alena Sharp arrived in Paris for her third Olympics on Friday. The first stop for the 43-year-old Canadian golfer was the Athletes’ Village, even though she isn’t staying there, choosing instead to lodge near the golf course about an hour outside of the city. On Saturday, Sharp checked out some beach volleyball at the base of the Eiffel Tower in the afternoon, then watched the Canadian women’s soccer team’s quarterfinal match against Germany at Canada House with other athletes at night.

On Sunday, she picked up and headed to the course, Le Golf National, to begin prep for her competition and to catch the final round of the men’s tournament. She followed 2023 Canadian Open champion Nick Taylor for his first nine holes of the day, then walked alongside Corey Conners for his final three. “I honestly was blown away by how many people were out here on Sunday watching the men. Like, I knew it was going to be a sold-out crowd, but I didn’t realize how many people there were,” Sharp said.

“Walking down the first hole, it was hard to get close to Nick when he teed off. And then even down by the green, the whole backside of the green was full of people. It was unbelievable. “And hopefully we have that as well. I mean, such an electric atmosphere. And I couldn’t even watch Corey hit his last putt because it was so many people around the 18th.”

Olympic golf gaining meaning
For a third straight Games, Sharp, of Hamilton, Ont., and Smiths Falls, Ont.’s Brooke Henderson will represent Canada in the Olympic women’s golf tournament. Action begins Wednesday at 3 a.m. ET and continues through Saturday’s final round. Sharp, who won bronze at the Pan Am Games last year, said golf takes on a different feeling when you represent your country.

“I’m a proud Canadian and whenever I can play for Team Canada, I’ve done it. There’s no better thing than playing for your country. Golf is such an individual sport and we’re always playing for ourselves. And this is just different. It’s just a different competition,” she said. It’s a sentiment that was echoed by many of the men who just finished competing in front of the type of crowds they were deprived of during the pandemic in Tokyo, and on the type of elite course that did not exist in Rio.

Spain’s Jon Rahm, who blew a four-shot lead on the back nine and missed the podium entirely, said the Olympics provided a unique feeling. “I not only feel like I let myself down, but to just not get it done for the whole country of Spain, it’s a lot more painful than I would like it to be,” he said. “I’ve gotten the question — where this tournament would rank in my opinion, or what I would think it would feel like to win. I think by losing today, I’m getting a much deeper appreciation of what this tournament means to me than if I had won any medal.”

Henderson’s shot at history
Given their recent reintroduction to the sport, the Olympics aren’t spoken of with reverence in golf like they are in tennis, a similarly individual sport. Perhaps, though, that will soon change. And Henderson, at 26, has the opportunity to become the first person ever to win the Canadian amateur and senior championships as well as an Olympic golf medal. A podium appearance could stamp her legacy as the greatest Canadian golfer of the modern era.

“She’s done so many great things for women’s golf in Canada and golf in Canada in general. So yeah, I know that’s what she wants. So I think it’d be an awesome if she could add that to her resume,” said Sharp, who is also a longtime friend of Henderson’s.

At the CPKC Women’s Open in Calgary last month, Henderson said she’s “proud” to represent Canada when she can. “It’s just an honour to wear red and white and to wear the Maple Leaf. I am really looking forward to Paris this year. I feel like I have good experiences to lean back on from past Olympic Games, and feel like I’ll be ready this year,” she said. Henderson enters the Olympic tournament in solid form, too. She’s placed within the top 10 in two of her last three tournaments, including a T-8 in Calgary.

Now, she should be feeling comfortable back in a familiar spot at the Olympics with Sharp. “We haven’t seen each other much the last year and a half because I haven’t played full time on the LPGA,” Sharp said. “But it’s nice to be around her again and have some dinners together and laugh and play a practice round. So all is good.”