RTJ Jr. Goes To The Whip In Olympic Course Designer Derby!**

An unbylined AP story looks at the circus that has become the race to land the Olympic golf course design bid.

Robert Trent Jones Jr. visited Brazil this week and secured a spot in the race to build the course, joining a field that includes Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman and others.

You know, I don't want to be cruel, but...Seve?

"The game of golf is in Brazilian hands," said Jones, who formed a partnership Wednesday with retired Brazilian golfing great Mario Gonzalez to vie for the Olympic course design work.

Nice touch. I was wondering when someone would sign Gonzalez up!

Uh, I was able to confirm a 1953 Argentine Open win for Mr. Gonzalez. I wasn't sure if it was 52 or 53. How the memory fades.

"We have dozens of designers interested in this course, the international reaction has been great," said Paulo Pacheco, the Brazilian golf confederation's vice president of marketing. "I think it's even possible that one of these designers will offer their work free of charge just because of the importance of having their name associated with this historic tournament."

Just remember that when they charge you a $1.5 million shaping fee!

Update on 2011-03-06 07:36 by Geoff

**I pulled out my handy copy of Daniel Wexler's wonderful Book of Golfers. He desribes Mr. Gonzalez as "the greatest player ever produced by Brazil," having first won the Argentine Open in 1940, played in three Masters and having captured eight Brazilian Open titles. He was born in 1923.

"The fact golf will be included at the Olympic Games in 2016 and 2022 is bound to give the game a boost in a country that has more value for an Olympic gold medal than a Green Jacket from Georgia."

Literary looper Colin Byrne writes from Shanghai on the state of golf in China and among the many interesting observations, he reminds us that in China golf is still very much a niche sport for the rich, but there is hope that the Olympic movement will help expand interest beyond a select audience.

I spoke to Michael Wong, who is in charge of developing Chinese junior golf. One of the early initiatives was to get talented juniors to hit a shot to the 17th hole at Sheshan during the pro-am for the tournament. We were all impressed by most of the swings these youngsters made in front of the professionals. Their progress since its conception four years ago is already evident; the tee they were playing from was farther back this year and the hole is a long carry over water.

The chances are these young hopefuls come from a wealthy background. With a membership at the exclusive Sheshan Golf Club costing over 1.6 million yuan and with 500,000 yuan (€177,191) being a pretty normal membership fee, there are not too many citizens from the fields in the market for these clubs yet. But there are initiatives being made to reach out to the less well off.

Without it sounding like an altruistic effort on behalf of the developers in China, there are plenty of courses being built at personal expense. Even though there is a moratorium on course building, in true local fashion courses are still developing. There are 600-700 courses already built and that will double in the next five years. They somehow estimate by then 10 million Chinese will play the game.

"Who's next? Tiger Woods and Yani Tseng? Phil Mickelson and Paula Creamer?"

Just be reassured that if your boss or spouse was a little hard on you today, imagine the phone call Gary Van Sickle and Jim Herre will get from Ty Votaw for ripping golf in the Olympics and the "contrived" architectural pairings vying to design the Olympic course in Rio. Regarding the design race that currently has Nicklaus-Sorenstam competing (in the press) against Norman-Ochoa.

Herre: Guess the Tour feels it needs star power for marketing purposes, but both choices feel like contrived, made-up alliances of convenience.

Reiterman: Agreed. Who's next? Tiger Woods and Yani Tseng? Phil Mickelson and Paula Creamer?

Van Sickle: Andy North and Jan Stephenson?

Mike Walker, senior editor, Golf Magazine: Jack and Annika, no question. Nicklaus has done more to grow the game internationally than anyone, and Annika's position in the women's game is unmatched. We're not going to pretend this commission is about the quality of the golf course, right?

Van Sickle: Silly us.

"The IGF could’ve instituted a 36-hole cut instead of shortening the tournament."

Sean Martin takes issue with the lack of an on-the-spot call by the International Golf Federation to prevent a virtual washout day of weekend World Amateur Team Championship golf, but what really scares me about this episode is that it's precisely the kind of thing that they use to justify the dead-on-arrival 72- hole individual stroke play format for the Olympics.

There’s nothing the IGF can do about the weather. But its insistence on emphasizing participation over competition in a tournament billed as a “world championship” has frustrated many players and coaches.