Justin Rose of Great Britain won the gold medal by two strokes over silver medalist Henrik Stenson of Sweden.

The 1908 Games in London were also supposed to have a men's golf competition, but a dispute led to a boycott by all of the host nation's golfers, leaving only a single international competitor and resulting in the cancellation of the event.

The United States was the only nation to have previously competed at both of the men's individual golf tournaments in 1900 and 1904, making its third appearance in 2016.

The top 60 golfers, subject to limits per nation and guarantees for the host and continental representation, were selected.

[9][10][11] Friday, 12 August 2016 Marcus Fraser of Australia carded four birdies and two bogeys for a round of 69 (−2) and saw his lead reduced to one shot.

[9][12] Saturday, 13 August 2016 Rose fired a 65 (−6) including two eagles to take a one-shot lead over world number five Henrik Stenson into the final round.

[15] It was Rose's first tournament win in 10 months, having won the UBS Hong Kong Open the previous October.