Rio 2016 has confirmed the details of the golf test event that will be staged at the newly constructed Olympic Golf Course on 8 March. The Aquece Rio Golf Challenge will feature nine leading Brazilian players, five men and four women, playing an exhibition event in the stroke play format.

The new venue, which will host the first Olympic golf tournament since the St Louis 1904 Games, was unveiled last November. Designed by American Gil Hanse, the 970,000m² course in the Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood of Rio will have capacity for 15,000 fans during the Olympic tournament on 11-20 August.

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Situated in Barra, the Olympic Golf Course is surrounded by mountains and lagoons (Photo: Getty Images/Matthew Stockman)

The test event will, however, be closed to the public as Games organisers focus on testing operations at the new venue. A delegation from the International Golf Federation (IGF) will be present alongside the Rio 2016 team to observe the event and ensure that the key areas are tested.  

“The main aspects that we will test are the course itself and the results system,” said Claudia Guedes, the Rio 2016 sport manager for golf. “It’s a tough course, there is quite a lot of wind, so it will bring the best out of the players.”

“The course looks amazing and now it will be important to get the feedback of the players”

Claudia Guedes, the Rio 2016 sport manager for golf

The course, designed by American Gil Hanse, features two artificial lakes (Photo: Getty Images/Matthew Stockman)

The male players are Alexandre Rocha, Rafael Becker and Daniel Stapff, who are the third to fifth-best placed Brazilians respectively in the world rankings, plus Rafael Barcellos, who currently leads the domestic rankings and is the 12th-best placed Brazilian in the world, and Rodrigo Lee, who is the 25th-placed Brazilian in the world rankings.

The female players are Miriam Nagl, Victória Lovelady, Candy Hannemann and Luciane Lee – the top four-placed Brazilians in the world rankings.

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The nine players will play in groups of three, with the first tee-off being at 11am on 8 March. Rio 2016 will deploy 104 volunteers during the test event, 80 in the results area, and 24 sport-specialists.

The clubhouse, designed by Brazilian architects Pedro Évora and Pedro Rivera (Photo: Getty Images/Matthew Stockman)

The Olympic Golf Course, which was built using entirely private resources, will be a public facility after the Games. It will be used to promote the sport in Brazil, with access for social projects, as well as providing a space for top-level players and other golf-related professionals to work and train, a venue for hosting future high-level competitions and an attraction for golf-related tourism.

This story was updated on 25 February to replace Lucas Lee with Rodrigo Lee in the men's tournament.