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Golf at the Olympics

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  • Registered Users Posts: 15,780 ✭✭✭✭Seve OB


    The Olympics is the pinnacle for rowing.

    It's not in golf.

    The risk/reward is very different.

    This


  • Registered Users Posts: 15,780 ✭✭✭✭Seve OB


    What is the pinnacle for Golf? Ryder Cup? Or can that question be answered?

    There are many high level competitions in rowing including world Championships, European championships but yes the Olympics are probably the pinnacle for many sports that also have multiple other competitions.

    Really?

    have a read through the thread and you will be enlightened.

    It appears to me you came on here to give lads a bashing, when you actually had no idea why you were bashing them with a comment like that.


  • Registered Users Posts: 24,537 ✭✭✭✭Alf Veedersane


    What is the pinnacle for Golf? Ryder Cup? Or can that question be answered?

    There are many high level competitions in rowing including world Championships, European championships but yes the Olympics are probably the pinnacle for many sports that also have multiple other competitions.

    The Majors. The Ryder Cup probably ahead of the Olympics as well for those that are eligible.

    Watching the Europeans in Brandenburg recently and both commentators and rowers said that the Olympics was by far and away the most important competition of their careers.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,297 ✭✭✭✭Jawgap


    What is the pinnacle for Golf? Ryder Cup? Or can that question be answered?

    There are many high level competitions in rowing including world Championships, European championships but yes the Olympics are probably the pinnacle for many sports that also have multiple other competitions.

    Easy - any of the Majors.

    No one, as I said earlier, grows up playing golf hoping to win an Olympic medal - they grow up wondering if you can put ladybirds in the Claret Jug ;)

    Or turning it around slightly - Sergio could win the gold in Rio, and Tokyo and Paris (if the Games go there). He could smash every Olympic tournament and win by 10 strokes.....

    ......he'll still be primarily remembered as one of the greatest golfers never to win a Major (unless he wins one).

    Likewise Monty - won everything the game had to offer, dominated the Order of Merit - but what's he remembered for in golfing circles?

    Not winning a Major.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,023 ✭✭✭✭Joe_ Public


    Rory has given an updated interview. Only caught brief snatches of it on the news, but looks like he's offering a much more detailed and "honest" account.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭Birdie Num Num


    Seve OB wrote: »
    Really?

    have a read through the thread and you will be enlightened.

    It appears to me you came on here to give lads a bashing, when you actually had no idea why you were bashing them with a comment like that.

    Really?

    I am not here to give any lads a bashing and I don't see where I have. You might see my first post in this thread starts with 'I am a fan of golf'. You asked the question should it be in the Olympics? I feel it has developed far from how it was in 1904 and golf is now big business. I'd be happy to see it opened up to amateurs now that is in the Olympics. I also think opening boxing to professionals is going to ruin boxing in the Olympics. I asked a simple question, what is the pinnacle of golf? I am happy to look through the thread to see which event has been suggested as the pinnacle. It's not the Olympics obviously or there would not be the same amount of withdrawals which we probably agree on.


  • Registered Users Posts: 21,078 ✭✭✭✭PARlance


    Rory has given an updated interview. Only caught brief snatches of it on the news, but looks like he's offering a much more detailed and "honest" account.

    Caught most of it myself. As well as Zika he citied that he / golfers have already 4 Olympics each year and that the Olympic dream was more that of the governing bodies than the players.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,387 ✭✭✭Tom.D.BJJ


    To be completely honest, im surprised the horsey crowd arent making more of this. Yes, the Olympics is the pinnacle of their sport but they, along with golfers, are most at risk. No other sports have competititors exposed to where mosquitoes congregate en masse ie beside pools of water. Yes, it will be winter in Brasil, but that means **** all because mosquitoes are active all year round in Brasil.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,023 ✭✭✭✭Joe_ Public


    PARlance wrote: »
    Caught most of it myself. As well as Zika he citied that he / golfers have already 4 Olympics each year and that the Olympic dream was more that of the governing bodies than the players.

    Yeah that was the gist of it. Makes a very fair point as far as I'm concerned.


  • Registered Users Posts: 178 ✭✭Braken


    Rory has given an updated interview. Only caught brief snatches of it on the news, but looks like he's offering a much more detailed and "honest" account.
    Honesty was what was required from the start not the the Not the Zika excuse and the PR that went with it...if any of the Golf majors were held in Brazil I wonder would there be many withdrawals...


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  • Registered Users Posts: 24,537 ✭✭✭✭Alf Veedersane


    Braken wrote: »
    Honesty was what was required from the start not the the Not the Zika excuse and the PR that went with it...if any of the Golf majors were held in Brazil I wonder would there be many withdrawals...

    It still comes down to the risk versus the reward. He's just given it more context.

    He's getting married next year, thinks Zika is a risk and given that the Olympics is down the list of achievements that define his career, the lure of gold isn't considered enough to take the risk. Pretty straightforward.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,023 ✭✭✭✭Joe_ Public


    Braken wrote: »
    Honesty was what was required from the start not the the Not the Zika excuse and the PR that went with it...if any of the Golf majors were held in Brazil I wonder would there be many withdrawals...

    Well, I don't know what exactly honesty is supposed to mean in this context - I can't read people's minds - but, yes, I'd have been ok, if at some point before now, McIlroy had come out and said, "well, this is a tough decision, and i'm sorry to disappoint people, but I just don't believe enough in golf being an Olympic event, so don't wish to take the opportunity away from someone who does." Perhaps there are good reasons why couldn't do so, if that's what he believes. Either way, I'm not bothered he's not going as I don't believe in golf as an appropriate Olympic event anyway.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,297 ✭✭✭✭Jawgap


    Braken wrote: »
    Honesty was what was required from the start not the the Not the Zika excuse and the PR that went with it...if any of the Golf majors were held in Brazil I wonder would there be many withdrawals...

    None of the golf majors will ever be held in Brazil.

    The players are damned either way - if they say Zika, they are accused of being untruthful, if they say 'scheduling' they get panned for not being patriotic, if they say 'sponsorship issues' they get hammered for being cynical.

    really, though, are the Olympics going to be any the poorer for the golfers pulling out or is golf going to be any the poorer for the strongest field not rocking up to Rio?

    Golf, as has been observed, is a pretty old game with its own long history and traditions - Olympic competition, apart from one brief moment, has never figured in any of that history or those traditions.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,378 ✭✭✭HighLine


    Good interview from Rory. Hopefully some of the visitors to this forum will see things more clearly after reading it.

    Not quoted in full - http://www.rte.ie/sport/olympics/2016/0629/799025-mcilroy/
    Speaking ahead of the French Open at Le Golf National, McIlroy was coincidentally forced to bat away an insect as he answered the first of several questions on the topic, including whether the number of withdrawals meant golf should not have returned to the Games for the first time since 1904.

    "I think that's not for me to say," the four-time major winner said. "I wasn't a part of the process. The R&A and some of the other bodies that run our sport thought it was a great idea, and obviously it is, to try and get golf into different markets, and the Olympics is obviously a great platform to do that.

    "I've said to people I have four Olympic Games (major championships) a year. That's my pinnacle. That's what I play for. That's what I'll be remembered for.
    "Some people argue that it would have been better to send amateurs there, but the whole reason that golf is in the Olympics is because they wanted the best players to go and compete. But unfortunately with where it is this year, people just aren't comfortable going down there and putting themselves or their family at risk.

    "I'd say if the Olympic Games were in most other cities or most other countries in the world this year, you wouldn't find as many people not wanting to go and participate.

    "I don't think it's embarrassing for the game because most other athletes dream their whole lives of competing in the Olympics, winning an Olympic Gold, and we haven't. We dream of winning Claret Jugs and we dream of winning green jackets. Whether that makes golf look insular in any way... it's just the way it is."

    The 27-year-old also said he did not want to let down Ireland's golf captain Paul McGinley, whom he spoke to before announcing his withdrawal.

    "That was probably one of the toughest phone calls I've had to make, because we've talked about it so much,"McIlroy added. "We've done so much work, got accommodation, got security down there, got a chef in, got everything planned out. I got my jabs; I had two dead shoulders for about four days.

    "But then at the end of the day, if I'm not 100 per cent comfortable going down there, I just don't want to put it at risk. There's another Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020 and I'm more than happy to wait until then to get that Olympic experience
    ."

    Asked why none of the top female golfers had withdrawn despite the risks posed by Zika, McIlroy added: "I guess some of the top women golfers might not have plans to have children in the next six months to a year. You've got Shane (Lowry) who has just got married. Jason Day has a young family. I'm getting married next year.

    "I think you can't really compare apples-to-apples because we're just in a different position than they are. I'd say 90 per cent of the athletes going to the Olympics are single and have no plans to start a family in the near future, whereas there are some golfers that are in that position and in that scenario."


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭Birdie Num Num


    HighLine wrote: »
    Good interview from Rory. Hopefully some of the visitors to this forum will see things more clearly after reading it.

    Not quoted in full - http://www.rte.ie/sport/olympics/2016/0629/799025-mcilroy/

    I am not sure that puts much clarity on it. Surely golfers would have been consulted in the process. No? Comments like "I have four Olympic games a year" would have given some clarity in advance of a decision to include golf (or at least non amateurs) in the Olympics.

    It's also interesting that the threat of Zika has been portrayed as more of a concern for young women than for men. Would be interesting to get the views of Women golfers.


  • Registered Users Posts: 24,537 ✭✭✭✭Alf Veedersane


    A bit poor on the response about the Women golfers.
    ]

    A bit poor to ask why other people made the decision they did in the first instance.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭Birdie Num Num


    ]

    A bit poor to ask why other people made the decision they did in the first instance.

    I suppose he was asked the question. Happy enough to edit that last post.


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,967 ✭✭✭✭The Lost Sheep


    The golfer's themselves don't seem to think it is important enough!

    Sports like Soccer, Tennis and Golf should not be in the Olympics they are professional and earn millions. They also get enough limelight as it is.

    If it was amateur golfers only then I would not see any issues with it.
    I don't think sports that are professional shouldn't be in Olympics. Best in many many other Olympic sports earn millions and are every bit as professional as ....


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,471 ✭✭✭blue note


    It's absolutely clear from all of this that golf as a professional sport shouldn't be in the Olympics. The players simply don't care enough.

    Is any other sport experiencing this level of drop outs?


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,410 ✭✭✭finbarrk


    Nah .Maybe a few millionaire tennis players and an odd millionaire US basketball player.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 24,537 ✭✭✭✭Alf Veedersane


    And a non-millionaire cyclist


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 18,551 Mod ✭✭✭✭slave1


    Moving onto the ladies, is Leona a shoe in at this stage does anyone know?


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,970 ✭✭✭Kevinmarkham


    And the first female golfer has withdrawn - Lee-Anne Pace from South Africa (http://www.globalgolfpost.com/now/2016/06/29/pace-olympics#)

    Will there be a wave of them now? Put it this way, there'll be more men and lady golfers to follow.


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 18,551 Mod ✭✭✭✭slave1


    Oh hols in the States and just watched an interesting Golf Channel report on this, they (PGA I think) have a guy on the course in Rio, all the course staff are constantly tested for the virus, zero results so far from all staff who spend all day working on the course and the management are not aware of a single case from any visitor.
    They allude to a convenient excuse for a tough July and August schedule.
    The US will have Jordan and Dustin or Bubba so they're going to fare well...


  • Registered Users Posts: 417 ✭✭martinkop


    slave1 wrote: »
    The US will have Jordan and Dustin or Bubba so they're going to fare well...


    They will have Jordan, Dustin, Bubba and Ricky. Allowed 4 man team if all 4 are in the top 15 world ranking.


  • Registered Users Posts: 24,537 ✭✭✭✭Alf Veedersane


    Spieth has already been citing security concerns


  • Registered Users Posts: 453 ✭✭Domo1982


    martinkop wrote: »
    They will have Jordan, Dustin, Bubba and Ricky. Allowed 4 man team if all 4 are in the top 15 world ranking.

    Lucky that none of the US team are young guys looking to start a family in the next few years:rolleyes:


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,838 ✭✭✭Russman


    blue note wrote: »
    Is any other sport experiencing this level of drop outs?

    Only the ones where the Olympics is a distant 5th or 6th ranking in terms of prestige or importance to the pros.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,453 ✭✭✭valoren


    Another factor would be the actual format of the competition itself.
    The R&A lobbied to get Golf reinstated in the Olympic programme.
    And having succeeded in 2009, the end result is a stroke play tournament.

    Every two years we hear from Ryder Cup players what a thrill it is to play in it.
    To represent their country (or Continent) and how they love the fact it's a team event
    with a variety of formats and about how it's a refreshing change from the week in week out grind on tour.
    The lack of such passion for Olympic Golf is glaring.

    You look at the Tennis and you have singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
    The chances of winning a medal for a tennis player increases.
    A player might be knocked out in Round 1 of the singles but they still have a chance of competing.
    Their Olympics is not over.

    Where's that for the golfers?
    If Leona Maguire shoots 77, 76 then she might think, "That's probably my chance of a medal gone, my Olympics is over"
    She should be thinking, "Well at least I have the mixed fourball with Rory next week".
    The organisers have failed to instil such enthusiasm and excitement for the Golfers.

    If one of the withdrawals came out and said with blunt honesty, then it would be perfectly valid "You want me to travel half way around the world for a tournament, completely upset my schedule for the season, and in the middle of the majors, to compete in an event where, there is a legitimate health concern, and where if I shot over par in the first round then I may as well pack my clubs and fly home? No thanks"


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  • Registered Users Posts: 453 ✭✭Domo1982


    valoren wrote: »
    "Well at least I have the mixed fourball with Rory next week".

    Rory's not going man - have you not heard?


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