“This is to win the Masters.”

The last putt of any practice session on any green is reserved for the stuff of fantasy. And between them through the years, Minjee Lee, Min Woo Lee, Jason Day and Hannah Green would have hit millions of them.

“Make this to win the US Open.”

It’s a mental trick aimed at simulating the anxiety that only the highest stakes can provide. It never really works, but everyone — from your weekend hacker to the four best golfers in Australia — has tried it before.

But of the countless make-believe scenarios concocted in the mind of the golfer, it’s highly unlikely that there has ever been a: “This putt is for the Olympic gold medal.”

You could say the same for a handful of other sports at these Olympic Games, but it is true that the golfers in Paris this fortnight are among the very few athletes that didn’t spend their childhoods dreaming of this moment.

As golf didn’t feature as an Olympic sport between 1904 and 2016, most never contemplated it as a possibility. In that first competition in Rio, many of the world’s best players voluntarily sat the competition out as it loomed as an interruption and distraction to the rest of their season.

Among those players was Day, the world number one at the time.

“I think selfishly I made the decision based on my schedule and how I was feeling at the time,” Day said.

“I think I was a bit emotionally and physically burnt out. At the time I was number one in the world and I had a lot on my plate, and [the Olympics] was the last thing that was on my mind.

“Looking back on it, I should have gone. I know that now.”

So much has changed in the sphere of professional golf since 2016. On the men’s side, a seismic fracture in the game has split the world’s best players down the lines of which Tour they take their money from, meaning the game’s elite don’t cross paths as often as they used to.

The women’s side has enjoyed an uptick in exposure and revenue though, led by a few standout individuals and an overall high standard of play throughout the LPGA.

Among the very best players in the world in 2024 has been Green, who is currently preparing for her second Olympic campaign.

Having experienced Olympic competition and come close to a medal on her Tokyo debut, Green is one of a number of stars for whom the importance of the Games has now been elevated.

“I do consider the Olympic Games our sixth major,” Green said.

“I think because it’s more rare, I think it would have to be probably higher than a major.

“I’ve always considered the Aussie Open like a major championship in that sense, but I think an Olympic gold medal would be bigger than a major.

“I have been playing well this year, so I do have expectations and I want to get a gold medal. I want to have a podium finish. I want to do everything that I can to get myself ready and hopefully play as well as I can.”

There’s only one woman in the world who could say with authority she has had a better season than Green.

American Nelly Korda has been as dominant among the women as her compatriot Scottie Scheffler has with the men. Korda is also the reigning Olympic champion, and it’s her gold medal everyone is coming for in Paris.

“She’s played so well this year, and she’s always gonna be under the spotlight because she’s Nelly Korda and she is the one that brings the crowds in for us,” Green said.

“She’s not had the success that she’s wanted the last few weeks and I think that will make her even more hungry, especially for the Olympics.

“It was really fun playing with her and against her in New Jersey (at the Mizuho Americas Open in May), even though I did bogey the last and she ended up with the trophy.

“But she’s a really nice person, a really great human and works really hard. She deserves everything that she’s achieved this year.”

Day and Green will go into the Olympics as Australia’s highest ranked man and woman, but in the knowledge most of the attention will be placed upon their sibling teammates.

Minjee Lee has been an LPGA superstar for some time now, but the emergence in the last 18 months of her brother Min Woo made the prospect of a family trip to Paris increasingly realistic.

“Anything we do as a brother and sister is very special,” Min Woo said.

“I’m sure my sister — she’s been in every team event — she’s just been waiting on me. So I guess my time has come.

“It’s very exciting for the family.”

Min Woo, a popular character on the PGA Tour and online, has had to fight for his opportunities on the global stage. He has earned qualification to a number of major championships through his play but has habitually been excluded from the PGA Tour’s lucrative “signature events” this year.

Those snubs have scorned Min Woo, who is preparing to make the most of a crack at one of the best fields he will face all year.

“Yeah, it kind of sucks not playing the signature events,” Min Woo said.

“Playing my way into the majors and then not getting into these events, it kind of feels a little sour.

“I’m trying not to dwell on it. I just try to play as good as I can to get into these events and to play against the best

“I’m excited. Obviously the American side is very strong and they’ve probably got one of the better chances, so I’m just going to work hard and hopefully the results show when it’s time.”

Minjee takes on the role of team veteran in Paris, having fronted up for Australia in Rio and Tokyo prior to 2024.

She is a two-time major winner and one of the best players in the world, though by her own admission — and largely due to an equipment change, she says — her form this year has been below her lofty standards.

The secret to her reaccession to the top? Perhaps it’s being a little bit more like her brother.

“I feel like Min Woo’s a little more creative and he has a bit more playfulness. When he’s training, he’s a bit more competitive outwardly.

“I tried that a little bit practising, but it doesn’t come to me as naturally as it does to him.

“I try to be a little more vulnerable on the golf course, like show my emotions a little bit, which is very hard for me.

“So that is kind of a work in progress.”

Minjee can claim to know as much about playing Olympic golf as anyone in the world, and will be a valuable source of experience among the team. Part of that will be attesting to the special feeling that comes from turning an individual sport into a true team endeavour.

“I don’t know if Min Woo will quite understand it right now, but once he gets there he’ll really be able to feel it,” Minjee said.

“You’re playing for something bigger than just yourself. You’re playing for your country, and I guess that’s the biggest honour that you can have.”

“Week in, week out we do represent Australia, but we’re not playing for Australia so I feel like it’s just a little bit different, and the atmosphere is just a little different.

“You just got to be there to experience it.”

All four of Australia’s golfers arrive in Paris with legitimate hopes of producing a week strong enough to earn a spot on the podium.

Le Golf National, host of the 2018 Ryder Cup, is an exacting test though.

It is a golf course that rewards accuracy rather than distance off the tee, something that does play against Day and Min Woo.

But the emphasis placed on approach play should give both Green and Minjee confidence, while Green and Day could find an edge on notoriously slippery greens.

It is a daunting course, with water flanking every turn and safety more often than not the best option. An exhilarating final four holes may well determine who takes home the medals.

Olympic golf as also puts golfers in the rare position of seeing third place as something worth fighting for — as Rory McIlroy said after missing out in a playoff in Tokyo, “I never tried so hard to finish third”.

That thought alone has been a stirring one for each of them, who like many of the world’s best players teeing it up at Le Golf National, have had their opinions of the event altered by the prospect of taking home a medal.

“I get nervous thinking about the possibility of winning a gold medal, or a medal in general. Which means I really want to,” Day said.

“Even wearing the green and gold right now just feels cool.

“I never really thought about it before, being able to wear the colours and be an Olympic athlete at the Olympics.

“Being able to go there and play and try to win a medal is the coolest thing of all time.”

• The men’s Paris Olympics golf starts tonight at 5pm. Follow all the action via ABC Sport’s daily live blog.