Olympic Golf After The Winter Olympics
Suffering from Vancouver Olympic withdrawals tonight, I was forced to consider what made the last two weeks so special. And while the many storylines were wonderful and set up quite beautifully by NBC for a mass audience, it's those once-every-four-years thrills provided by various unique competitions that has me more convinced than ever that barring a complete re-imagining of its format, golf in the 2016 Olympic games will be a complete and utter failure.
Oh I know, because of Olympic golf, governments are funding the sport, Jack Nicklaus will litter China with more signature designs and children across the globe will be introduced to the game through robot-breeding ground academies.
Yet when the world tunes in to those 2016 golf telecasts (if they can find them buried in some odd time slot on some remote channel), they'll watch another 72-hole stroke play event consisting of a world golf ranking-padded field (no 100-shooting qualifiers from Kenya), they'll be asking why golf was added to the Olympic games in the first place.
Without a team competition, most nations will not take an interest.
And without a fresh, once-every-four-years format, no one who follows golf nor anyone under the age of 50 will watch.
But hey, Tiger got on board because of the, uh, lure, of the 72-hole individual stroke play format. So glad golf put all of its Olympic eggs in that basket.
Monday, March 1, 2010 at 11:12 PM
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (27)
I really don't understand why the governing bodies pushed for this to happen. The game had already been taken (mostly by the R&A) to all four corners of the earth and no longer carries the tag of elitism so why in the name of the golfing gods did they think it to be in the best interests of the game to allow it to become tainted by association with what appears to be a corrupt and drug-infested 'movement'?
Then...when that's done, start over with the individual competition and just follow the U.S. Amateur format.
It simply must be match play, or it will fail. And who in the world cares what Tiger thinks now or if he even shows up.
If that is the Rio logo, the same person who came up with Izzy for the Atlanta games still has a job. Who would have believed that? Come to think of it, that person was Billy Payne...now I begin to understand.
But that's another topic for another day.
Agree that Olympic golf would be much better in a different format. How about the U.S. Amateur format?
I guess those boring match-play team events like the Ryder Cup just don't convey that unique Olympics cachet.
Boy, those yogurt companies sure plan their product launches well in advance.
Here in the Far East , do you honestly think we were giving a f*ck about it ?
Everything I saw was tape delayed. Maybe you guys just don't have a Chinese Bob Costas!
Golf is an individual sport . . . They should have an individual tournament. . . 72 hole stroke play events are the accepted method of determining "the champion golfer of the year" and almost every other major tournament winner. . . The Olympics are not the time to play Stablelford, Skins, Alternate shot - or any other non traditional format - in so important an event.
I agree with your comments. Now if they want Golf as an exhibition sport, then Team competition will be ideal to showcase the beauty of the game. The Olympics should identify the best player, and not the hottest player as a Match Play format would reflect.
Does 72-hole stroke play really reflect the best player? Doesn't it reflect who is the hottest player that week more than Match Play? Maybe I'm wrong. I still like a U.S. Amateur format.
Golf needs to step up and make the Olympic Golf Event be for amateurs, especially in light of the recent Tigerscape, why would the Olympics want to feature him?
The FIFA World Cup cannot get here fast enough.
Masters? We don't need no F*&%ing Masters.
Once every 4 years a good part of the world pays attention and the cash in/level of interest in niche sports is huge. A nationalist component helps tremendously in garnering attention.
So how about a unique team competition for golf, maybe even with playdowns to decide the national roster (OK, I'm dreaming there)...how many countries could field a competitive team I wonder, maybe 12 to 16?
GolfFan:
If by 'hockey folks' you mean NHL management, that's just posturing.
Any niche sports body with a brain in their head would like these numbers:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/sports/olympics/02sandomir.html?ref=sports
"Newfangled stroke play for championships" . . . You must be a really old guy - I am 68 and don't remember any of the 4 major golf championships or any other significant professional event (No - the Accenture does not count) being contested at match play since I was old enough to drink legally. . .
Until the PGA moved to medal play in 1958 "many professional events were at match play." Really? Many? . . . Maybe you are recalling the legendary "Palm Beach Round Robin" - and would like to see that format in the Olympics?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodall_Palm_Beach_Round_Robin
Who cares what amateur events do? Golf in the 2016 Olympics will have a field of professional players. . . A 72 hole stroke play event is the appropriate format to determine a champion (unless you think the current 4 majors are doing it wrong?)
But - maybe you are correct - if we used match play in the 2016 Olympics - and luck was with us and the final match came down to Paul Casey vs Ben Crane - that might be riveting for the entire world to see and enjoy - and it would be a 36 hole match - wow - 11 hours of exposure to that could grow the game of golf to unimaginable heights! . . . (Not to mention the grass in Rio in mid Summer growing to substantial heights too - they would have to mow fairways and greens ahead of that twosome.)