Golf returns as an Olympic Sport?
Golf in the Olympics
Golf will be an Olympic sport again in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics for the first time since 1904. It has been well over a century since a Canadian named George Lyon took home the gold medal in Olympic Golf. Players are already juggling their professional schedules to have an opportunity to represent their respective countries in the Olympics. However controversial this is, it will certainly be exciting for spectators worldwide. So what is the issue? Why have we waited over a hundred years for this?
First of all, the Olympics have always been a showcase of the world’s top athletes but it was never for athletes already competing in professional arenas. It was the big opportunity to compete on a world stage for athletes that don’t already have the world stage every weekend of their careers.
One of the most famous examples of how strict the Olympic standards were on this issue involved an American athlete, Jim Thorpe. In the 1912 Olympics, Thorpe had his gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon stripped because he had once accepted small amounts of money for playing semi-pro baseball during his college summers. His achievements were nullified due to the money received, even though it was in the context of different sport.
USGA Executive Director David Fay, who was behind the effort to return golf to the Olympics, believes that it would be good for the game of golf particularly in countries where it is still growing in popularity.
“Golf in the Olympics could grow the game worldwide, particularly in places where it’s not that big. Take countries like Croatia or Russia. In order to jump-start interest and support of the sport in these countries, you need money. The best way to get that is through two sources —- your government or the national Olympic committee. For these countries, there’s no substitute for it being an Olympic medal sport”.
I don’t agree that having another tournament, one that would likely be dominated by the usual names, can contribute to fostering the interest of Russian and Croatian golfers. What would be more likely to inspire the interest of such ‘non traditional’ golf nations is if their best amateur players had an opportunity to play and do well on a world stage and this would have to be against other amateur players. So why not include the golf in the Olympics but have it be a fair playing field for the world’s top amateurs? A gold medal would have a lot of significance to someone on that playing field and to their respective countries. Do Jordan Spieth and Bubba Watson really need Olympic medals to go with their Green Jackets and other accolades that they will surely win their respective professional careers? However, the International Olympic Committee has made it clear that they don’t want golf unless the top pros will be there and in order to guarantee this, they made The top 15 world-ranked players automatically eligible for the Games with a maximum of four per country.
And what do the PGA organizers think? They have made it known that they aren’t totally behind the idea of golf as an Olympic sport for the single reason that it will take away from their already busy summer events. Several tournaments that fall in and around the weeks leading up to the Olympics will see fewer top players as these players prepare for their Olympic duties.
And most importantly, what do the players think? Well, perhaps Bubba’s response says it all “How would you not want to be an Olympic athlete?” Watson, 36, said. Well, until now, one could have said, “maybe he should have taken up another sport”.
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