ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Only five golf courses in the world have hosted Olympic golf competitions. One of them is Glen Echo Country Club in St. Louis.
5 On Your Side's Annie Krall was there Monday as golfers hit the links to celebrate the city's link to Olympic history.
Organized by the St. Louis Sports Commission, President Marc Schreiber said the attending Olympic supporters golfing at Glen Echo Monday have loved the start of the Paris Olympics. Yet, they're already looking ahead.
"Can we bring the Olympics gymnastics trials here?" Schreiber asked. "Can we do the Olympic swimming trials here? Are there other opportunities?"
After 1904 in St. Louis, golf took a 112-year hiatus from the Olympics, returning in 2016 to the Rio games. That's why there are only five courses it has ever been played at, including Tokyo in 2020. Paris has hosted twice on separate courses, first in 1900 and then again in 2024.
With such a small group honored with hosting golf, the St. Louis Sports Commission is hoping to leverage the past and be on the 2028 Olympic torch relay.
A replica of the Olympic torch outside Glen Echo inspired some good-nature controversy on July 29 amongst golfers considering which city has the biggest claim to fame with the sport: Paris or St. Louis.
Paris in 1900 was the sport's first showing but four years later in St. Louis, there was the first presentation of Olympic medals including bronze, silver and gold.
Albert Lambert, the namesake of St. Louis's airport, competed for one of those 1904 medals, St. Louis Sports Commission Chairman and acclaimed Olympics historian Michael Loynd said.
"He was a flyer," Loynd said. "His family owned Listerine. He also golfed in 1900 at the Paris games. He started the course and organized the golf outing here."
Now, it's Glen Echo's head pro Michael Herbig's turn to help organize this golf outing in Normandy and steward its Olympic legacy.
"We've had a lot of conversations with other clubs, the club in Paris being one of them, Le Golf National," Herbig said. "Maybe having some interclub stuff on the books to celebrate the next one with being two past Olympic venues that are still open."
2025 is the earliest that collaboration could happen, Herbig said, emphasizing he hopes the interclub play comes sooner rather than later.
Especially considering this is the last Olympics St. Louis will be the only U.S. city allowing golfers to take swings under the five multi-colored rings.
"The Los Angeles country club will be able to fly it once they host it in four years," Morgan Gonzalez, general manager at Glen Echo Country Club, said.
The Paris 2024 men's golf starts on Thursday at Le Golf National with the women's competition teeing off for four days starting on Aug. 7.