Bloomberg TV On Hanse, Rio

A Bloomberg TV feature on Gil Hanse following the awarding of the Olympic design contract for Rio 2016:

Meanwhile, the AP branch in Rio's Tales Azzoni continues his steadfast interest in the land dispute which will not hold up construction, says the IGF's Ty Votaw.

Votaw said the land dispute is “not a concern at this time,” and reiterated that the federation has been reassured by 2016 organizers that all issues are close to being resolved.

“There are some final discussions between the land owner and the organizing committee, and the mayor’s office that are just being finalized,” Votaw said. “We are working closely with Rio 2016 and the land owner to resolve the issues that need to be resolved so we could move forward.”

Votaw acknowledges there is a need to make planning changes for every day that goes by without construction starting, but said it doesn’t mean that current delays will affect the final project or the test events.

“There is some flexibility,” Votaw said. “We could be ready as early as March of 2015 or as late as August of 2015. You could have the test events in 2016 as well.”

The AP story ends by suggesting (yet again) that a different site may still be necessary for the 2016 course, even though a court has ruled that the construction can go ahead regardless of the ultimate decision on the land dispute that may be years away. We also know that from the AP's Azzoni.

Rio 2016 Winning Clubhouse Bid: "Combining an atmosphere of conviviality with nature"

Golf Australia was the only site I saw with a photo of the winning bid for the 2016 Olympic golf course clubhouse which drew interest from 82 design teams.

A large veranda showcasing the lush tropical landscape of Barra da Tijuca, combining an atmosphere of conviviality with nature — in the spirit of Rio — defines the character of the winning project in the competition to choose the design for the Rio 2016™ Olympic Games golf course’s club house, announced on Monday at the Brazilian Institute of Architects, Rio de Janeiro department (IAB-RJ).

The event was attended by the President of the Rio 2016™ Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Rio 2016™), Carlos Arthur Nuzman; the committee’s chief executive, Leonardo Gryner; the President of IAB-RJ, Sergio Magalhães; the competition’s coordinator, Claudio Taulois; and the President of the jury, Fernando Alencar.
Pedro Évora and Pedro Rivera, of Rio de Janeiro, are the author and co-author respectively of the winning project.

Gil Hanse will be designing the Olympic course.

Update on 2012-10-05 20:30 by Geoff

**Thanks to reader Don for more images from the architect's website. Certainly looks like an ambitious plan, especially since it appears to overtake the putting green!

Final & Vital 2012 Ryder Cup Question: How Do We Use This Epic Ryder Cup To Get The Dreadful Olympic Format Fixed?

Lorne Rubenstein said "the golf world itself came alive during the Ryder Cup. There’s nothing in golf like a Ryder Cup. Nothing."

Mark Lamport Stokes notes that the Ryder Cup "has never been more vibrant or in better health." And quotes Rory McIlory saying, "This is the most special and unique golf tournament we have, period."

In case anyone did not know it, last week reminded us that match play with a team and nationality component supersedes stroke play. Looking ahead to the 2016 Rio Olympics, longtime readers here know that golf returns with two 72-hole individual stroke play events. One for men, one for women.

And longtime readers know that from day one, I've viewed this as a highly unfortunate decision by the International Golf Federation that looked to players for input. Players who are good at playing golf, not so good in the vision department.

We also know there are also other issues that stuck us with a format that will not excite "the base" nor will it do much to bring in new fans of our great sport. In no particular order:

- There is the IOC's concern about beds in the Olympic Village, which resulted in just 60 players making the Olympic fields. I'm guessing Luke and Diane Donald, for instance, will not be bunking up in a glorified dorm room with the family come 2016.

- There is the dreadful scheduling mess that 2016 brings with the four championships, the ResetCup and the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National, making anything over four days of competition a concern to the IGF. (It would have been an ideal year for the PGA to be played in the spring, but the PGA of America locked into Baltusrol for PGA anniversary reasons well before Rio was even selected.)

- A field of 60 instead of 64 makes a match play bracket that much more difficult. A small field with limits on the number of players from each country also limits the number of two-player team possibilities.

- There is the time-honored and depressing excuse that match play could leave television with an undesirable final. And that may be true, but as we've seen with the WGC Match Play, television also gets far more compelling action each day of the event instead of only on the final day as you get in stroke play.

- And of course, the relentless, withering, exhausting but consistent resistance to outside-the-box thinking or imagination coming from within the golf establishment's leaders who make up the IGF.

Olympic golf will not move any needle with its current 72-hole stroke play format and the Ryder Cup only reminded us of this. Even before the Medinah Miracle, Nick Faldo reiterated the need to re-think things last week, proposing that a reboot be considered and even mentioned the possibility of a mixed doubles element like Olympic tennis.

This year's Ryder Cup proved that match play, and preferably one with a team element, is more exciting and emotional than any sudden death playoff for the bronze medal will ever be.

So how, intelligent readers, do we begin the process of asking the IGF and the IOC to revisit this dead-on-arrival format so that golf can put its best foot forward in 2016?

"The debate about Rory and the Olympics, however, refuses to wither."

I'm already sick of this debate and I'm not Irish, British or the least bit worried that Rory McIlroy will figure it out by 2016, but Oliver Brown delves into the question that continues to hound the PGA Champion: which country's bad uniforms will he wear in 2016?

It is regrettable that McIlroy should be facing such a dilemma, when his second major title at the US PGA is a cause for jubilation on both sides of the Irish border. And yet he is under pressure to declare his hand for the Rio Olympics because he is Catholic. His great friend and compatriot, Graeme McDowell, is spared the same predicament as a Protestant, since it is widely expected that he will compete for Britain.

But Northern Irish Catholics tend, as boxing medallists Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan showed at London 2012, to align themselves with the Republic. Representing Britain would, at one time, have been deemed perfidious, equivalent to backing a state that they perceived as oppressive.

Is Golf One Of The Sports Keeping Weed On WADA's Banned List?

In light of the judo Olympian expelled after innocently eating a marijuana brownie, Kate Kelland talks to scientists and others wondering why marijuana is banned by the World Anti Doping Agency when it seemingly would not help athletes in most sports.

But archery and golf were cited as reasons why it might be handy. Commissioner Mr. Rogers, of course, never believed in any kind of testing because no golfer would ever cheat. So glad he (was forced) to come around.

While it is generally accepted that cannabis is unlikely to give athletes any advantage in fast-paced sports, some experts say it could prove helpful in sports like shooting or golf where a steady hand is needed.

Under WADA's rules, athletes face a two-year ban if cannabis is found in their system while they are in competition.

But the anti-doping body does not sanction those who test positive for marijuana outside of competition times, while they are in training camps or during rest periods.

Scientists say this smacks of double standards and suggests WADA bans cannabis for political rather than scientific reasons.

"The problem is the elite athletes should be seen as role models for young kids, and so they ban cannabis because they don't want to have the image of gold medallists smoking joints," said one British-based sports scientist who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.