Olympic History For Brazil! First Slow Play Penalty

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You know Victorial Lovelady had to be taking her sweet time if they IGF official on the case, Grant Moir, was going to give the first slow play penalty in Olympic history to a host country participant.

After a dreadful pacing the first day that could be attributed to nerves, a tougher course and the overall slow play problem that plagues the game, players were warned to pick it up in round two. The difference was noticeably early on, but according to Alistair Tait, Brazil's Lovelady did not do enough after a 10th hole warning.

Lovelady, playing in the company of Tiffany Chan of Hong Kong and Swiss amateur Fabienne In-Albon, already had been warned for wasting time on the 10th hole. She was adjudged to have picked up a second bad time for taking too long on the par-4 15th, turning what should have been a par into a bogey.

Lovelady suggested she had to back off some shots because home country fans unaware of golf etiquette were making noise at the wrong times, prompting her to back off.

As Tait notes, some will see inequity given that the men were playing at a consistent 5 hour clip each day, which would seem to put a dent in the traditional player excuse that size of field is the problem. The field is more than half the size of the usual major golf event.

Shoot, even green speed can't be blamed, as the Rio Olympic course surfaces are in the 11-11.5 range, a good foot slower than a typical PGA Tour event or major.

Women's Olympic Golf Is Here: First Round This And That

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They've been all in from the beginning. Player enthusiasm, a Commissioner who cleared the schedule and an intense desire from some nations to establish themselves through Olympic golf brings a potentially fun mix to the women's competition.

Olympic Broadcast Services has the action all day--glorious weather to start, so glorious the smells have even subsided--so check your local listings. In the U.S., Golf Channel will be on for nearly nine hours, starting with the opening 7:30 am (6:30 am ET) tee shot by Brazil's Miriam Nagl. According to this unbylined IGF story, she's proud to follow in the foosteps of Adilson da Silva, who gave such an inspired performance for the host country.

Not surprisingly, Lydia Ko is excited about playing for Olympic gold this week. With her ball striking and scrambling ability, she's an obvious favorite. Steve DiMeglio of USA Today on Ko's Monday media chat.

“I love my sleep and I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten up at 7 a.m. to watch someone else play,” Ko said about her alarm going off Sunday so she could go to the golf course and watch Team New Zealand’s duo of Danny Lee and Ryan Fox in the final round of the men’s tournament.

Inbee Park, the top ranked Korean and only Hall of Famer in the field, sounds more and more like her playing days are finished. Will this be her last start in a significant event? She wasn't saying, but she also made clear what her priorities are, as I file for GolfDigest.com.

The American contingent gave a great impression in their pre-Olympic press conference, and Bob Harig details the thoughts of Stacey Lewis, Lexi Thompson and Gerina Piller coming into the competition. (All three felt good about the course, Rio and the chance to go to the Closing Ceremony Sunday.)

Lexi Thompson's dad Scott is on her bag this week, Rex Hoggard reports.

Bill Plaschke notes that these games have been dominated by the American women, which would bode well for golf if golf ever made sense.

Jay Coffin on the room LPGA Tour officials made for the Olympics, with this nice zinger from Commish Mike Whan.

“I have a difficult time looking at somebody who is 25th on the money list and say ‘great job at the Olympics but now you’re 29th on the money list,’” Whan said. “That didn’t seem like it was going to play for us.”

Will there be another gold for Britain? Catriona Matthew and Charley Hull are strong medal contenders and are inspired by Justin Rose's win.

7 things you need to know about the competition from Golf Digest.

Your leaderboard watching can be done here.

Here is an IGF overview of the tee times.

And the groupings along with other info at the official Rio website.

This & That After Justin Rose's Gold Medal Win

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As the women prepare to take center stage, everyone at the Rio Olympic Golf Course is still buzzing about the men's competition.

If you're still interested in the men's side of things, here are just some of the stories that caught my eye in the aftermath of golf's return to the Games...

Golfweek.com with an excellent wrap up of the social media posts by players who teed up in Rio, starting with Justin Rose's Tweet. "Best week" would make for a relentless drinking game.

Rory texted Justin Rose a congratulations, Alistair Tait reports.

“I did get one from Rory. Absolutely. He said he was very, very proud, and said he was pulling for me. He said he could see how much it meant to me and congratulated me. He was very complimentary. Obviously, he watched.

“He made the point that he really wants golf to succeed as an Olympic sport. He has some opinions that are very personal to him, and that’s fine, but as a whole, he’s very, very much behind golf succeeding in the Olympics.”

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune says Sunday's finish earned golf its place in the Games.

Doug Ferguson with notes, including how a two-man aggregate team competition would have ended, how Jason Day watched one hole of the Olympics and Rickie Fowler's quick departure to go accrue points in North Carolina.
 

Rose won the gold but dropped two spots in the FedEx Cup points standings because the PGA Tour couldn't take a week off. Shoulda played the Deere Sir Justin!

Mike Johnson with Rose's clubs that won the gold.

Jay Coffin with Rose's thoughts on how he will display the medal, possibly.

Matt Kuchar will have to pay taxes on his USOC bonus money, oh, and he fell asleep with the bronze around his neck. Alex Myers with the explanation.

Henrik Stenson could be understood for feeling less excited about silver than Kuchar is about his bronze. Sam Weinman explains at GolfDigest.com.

I really hate dwelling on the number of golf pros who lacked the vision or love of sport to make the journey here. But, we must give them their due!

Joe Posnanski lets the absentees know that they "blew it" when it came to sitting out the Olympics, an easy thing to do now. Nonetheless, some of the slaps are enjoyable.

Interesting his memo is directed at Jordan Spieth, with others CC'd:

You blew it in two ways. One of those ways has been discussed at length but it remains true – you blew it for golf. It seems that in the countless warnings and cautions and bad omens leading into these Rio Games, you forgot something basic: Just how BIG the Olympics really are. Leave it to USA Boxing coach Billy Walsh, in his glorious Irish brogue, to explain: “There were, what, 40 million people around the world watching Pacquiao-Mayweather?” he asked. “We have 3.5 BILLION people watching the Olympics. Forget everything else. This is the biggest (bleeping) show on earth.”

The biggest (bleeping) show on earth, guys, and you had a chance to be a part of it.

Strong reactions from Nick Faldo and Rich Lerner on Golf Channel's Live From.

Analyst Nick Faldo: “The gold medal is bigger than our game of golf. This was putting golf on the biggest stage in the world, the Olympic Games, where we are just part of it.”

Host Rich Lerner: “This was a fresh breeze that blew right through the sport, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. There were far too many grim press conferences with some young golfers the last couple of months and there was just an awful a lot of negativity. And I think this is about the happiest I’ve seen the sport in a long, long time.”

 

And I explain at GolfDigest.com what happened to Justin Rose's winning ball. You won't believe where it sat for 45 minutes, or where it's headed.

A volunteer assigned to golf finally heard from Rio2016 that she was needed. Unfortunately she was still home in Spain, having never gotten a reply.

ShackHouse 18: Rio 2016 Men's Golf, Spain's Azahara Muñoz

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This week we talk about the exciting Rio men's golf gold medal effort by Justin Rose and his peers. The course, the fans, the fun are all included and we might even talk about House's favorite True Detective.

Even better, the talented and intelligent Azahara Muñoz joined us to discuss her Olympian status. Muñoz has been staying in the Olympic Village with husband/caddie Tim Vickers, taking in various sports and rooting on Team Spain's various teams. She was there for Rafael Nadal's gold in doubles and discusses her first impressions of the Games and the golf venue.

You can follow her here on Twitter.

As always, you can subscribe on iTunes and or just refresh your device subscription page.

Same deal with Soundcloud for the show, and Episode 18 is here to listen to right now!

The ShackHouse Stitcher page.

The Ringer's ShackHouse page with all of the info and links you can dream of.

As always, special thanks to Callaway, The Ringer, Avion and Athlete's Collective, who had me ready with long sleeves for Rio's mosquitos. Only, there aren't any.

Justin Rose Wins Olympic Gold In Golf: Your Reactions

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I'm busy penning some observations about the scene after the golf, which certainly was different than any I've seen.

In the meantime I'd love to hear how the golf came off, how tense did it feel, was the network coverage of note in any way and whether you heard of anyone seeing golf in a different light due to the way things played out.

Fire away!

Day 3 Wrap 2016 Olympic Men's Golf: Following A Dream Script

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Without some notable young stars, Olympic men's golf was in danger of not producing a strong leaderboard.

With a limited field, brought up in the rear by players outside the top 150 in the world, a runaway was always a possible.

With a golf course that only eight people had played one time, grown in by a crew that knew nothing about golf a year ago and in a city whose inhabitants didn't want or need a course, the venue could have interfered with the proceedings in unforeseen anyway.

Oh, and we're in Rio, where we're not supposed to flush toilet paper.

Yet in spite of all those obstacles, the first draft turned in by the script doctors is a doozy.

As I lay out for GolfDigest.com, God Save The Queen should be played around 4:30 as Justin Rose tries to stiff upper lip it and mercifully fails. But the best golfer on the planet right now figures to have a say in the matter, while a zany cast of character actors and old stars make cameos.

A breeze will be present but not like days one and three. Oh and everyone show up a half-hour earlier. The telecast window is adjusted accordingly, and NBC is also planning on carrying the conclusion live on the network.

The final round groupings and tee times.

We are in for a grand finish Sunday in the 2016 Olympic Golf men's competition between two combatants who have played together in Ryder Cup competition put on a grand show Saturday, writes PA's Phil Casey.

Alistair Tait at Golfweek.com calls it a dream duel.

In early voting I see most of you think Stenson will prevail.

Bob Harig on Justin Rose's best round of the year Saturday, and why the Englishman hasn't been his usual self after what looked was going to be a huge year. 

"I think the only thing that's held me back really from winning this year has been injury. It's been a little bit of a slow year for me,'' Rose said. "I haven't been able to be up to my normal speed in terms of practice. Probably since Doral (in March), I've been struggling, to be honest with you. It's nice to be through that.

Mike McCallister notes that Rose merely has the pole position with his one stroke lead, and adds other notes from the day.

Alan Shipnuck at golf.com seizes on Rose's lesson learned from attending gymnastics this week.

This increased focus has an unlikely origin: women’s gymnastics. Rose, whose wife Kate is a former gymnast, attended a meet earlier in the week and was blown away by the commotion on the floor, with so many disciplines happening simultaneously. "They have literally their body on the line if something goes wrong yet the level of distraction around them is incredible," Rose said. "It kind of made me realize that I could do a better job of sort of tunneling in and forgetting some of the distractions that can be out there on the golf course. That's one that I tried to use this week."

Bubba Watson cost himself a shot with a drop-kick putt that he believes will make him a legend. Particularly if he loses out on a medal by one, as I note at GolfDigest.com

You can see the putt here at Golfweek.com 

Sergio took himself out of medal contention barring a miracle, but still is having fun.

 On the ratings front, golf made NBC's Thursday Olympic ratings release.

Golf Channel averaged 386,000 viewers for its live coverage of the full first-round (6:30 a.m.-3:13 p.m. ET) of the first day of Olympic golf since 1904 – a 543% increase from the same time period during the 2012 London Games. In addition, the network averaged 515,000 viewers for the afternoon window (noon-3:13 p.m. ET), up 287% from 2012.  

No greed goes unpunished files: the Olympic rating wasn't enough to boost John Deere Classic ratings, which drew fall-style numbers according to Sports TV Ratings. I still can't believe the tour scheduled an event this week. Sure hope John Deere gets a makeup date.

The Olympics also impacted the U.S. Senior Open Thursday, which drew an average of 53,000 viewers over five hours.

The course setup on Saturday was pretty difficult, with quite possibly the worst looking and playing hole location I've seen on a major stage. Particularly given the size and quality of the 17th green complex created by Gil Hanse and friends.

Other head scratchers on the course setup defied the forecasted wind direction and gave the appearance of having been decided days ago: trying to make the par-4 3rd driveable into the wind, a back left pin on the long par-3 14th when the wind was coming out of the left, and the par-3 17th's goofy looking location. 

Thankfully the forecast does not call for strong winds. Hopefully they've been saving the best setup for last.

Photo Caption Contest: McConaughey Meets Finchem

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As I wrote for GolfDigest.com, Matthew McConaughey visited the Olympic golf course and followed Rickie Fowler.

Big day here in Rio!

All right, all right...

More importantly, MM got some face time with TF, as evidenced by this Chris Condon photo on the IGF Flickr page. While this looks like a showdown, it was a long and friendly conversation (especially with MM in a Presidents Cup jacket). But I don't know what was said...you?

Mens Olympic Golf: Day One Recap And Links

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From the Rio perspective I’m not sure the opening day of Olympic golf could have gone much better. It was fitting that the opening tee shot was watched mostly by some passionate fans and the dignitaries who ushered golf into the Games. These are people who have dealt for years with no shortage of naysaying, general whining, petty bickering and some deserved criticism.

It was also impressive to see just about every significant leader from the five families on hand, as well as those who may be retired but who contributed to the golf-in-the-Games push like former European Tour Chief George O’Grady. (I detailed the scene and some of the names for GolfDigest.com here.)

Anyone with a sense of the many meetings, conversations and politicking undertaken by these folks had to  congratulate all involved for getting us to a very special morning. Furthermore, as players continue to offer their praise for the Games experience, these leaders can proudly say they created something that has evolved  into a life-changing few weeks for 120 golfers and their assorted families and countries.

Even more heartening was how quickly the course filled up with over 6,000 energetic, eager and curious spectators who were greeted by live music, interactive hitting bays and putting greens, and the chance to take a photo under the Olympic rings. Considering how difficult Rio is to traverse, the attendance was admirable and merely getting all of the volunteers in place was a minor miracle (a few told me some wise soul made a Wednesday night call to employ Uber to ensure early attendance at a tough venue to reach).

From Adilson da Silva’s perfect opening tee shot, to the sight of original Olympic advocates Padraig Harrington and Matteo Manassero in group two, the kickoff was a dream mix of capturing Olympic spirit and getting the business of sport underway. Afterwords, the emotions of a special day in his golf career came pouring out, writes Alistair Tait for Golfweek.

As for the competition, the surprising on-site energy apparently didn’t quite translate to television based on the reactions I heard. From the press center, the television images I saw were very crisp while the golf course showed the world that nature-based design can look and play well on a grand stage. However, the combination of a nine-hour telecast with only sixty players on day one of Olympic Broadcasting’s first foray into golf was no doubt imperfect, though most of you who wrote said it was not the telecast you took issue with. Instead, it was the stroke play format when set against the other Olympic competitions you’re watching.

(Brief interlude here for those who think this week’s PGA Tour event carries as much significance as the Olympic competition, short of Zach Johnson tackling Steve Stricker as he’s about to tap in for the win and doing it in the name of promoting the pro wrestling career he's always dreamed of starting, no one in 2 years, 5 years or 10 years will remember who won the 2016 John Deere Classic.)

I know we said we’d grin and bear two weeks in Rio without format talk until after the Games, but having just returned from watching the fast-paced, tidy badminton pool play and hearing your comments that stroke play fell flat on television, we mustn’t let even the most magnificent Sunday result distract from the idea that golf can sustain a long and fun Olympic run with a revised format in 2020. 

For now though, outside of the non-Kuchar Americans struggling (who I wrote about for Golf Digest), the magnificent play in tough winds Thursday should be the focus.

Here goes...

Steve DiMeglio of USA Today on the opening day fun and surprises. Doug Ferguson says it was a day full of surprises, indeed.

But Henrik Stenson looms large after a 66 in the toughest winds, Jay Coffin notes.

Alex Miceli on the morning wave definitely getting less wind, but they still faced enough difficulty.

Coffin wrote about first round leader Marcus Fraser from Australia, who posted 63 thanks to perfect course conditioning, but by no means calm conditions.

G.C. Digital with key stats from day one,  a miracle considering the expected scoring and stat issues.

First grouping member and Canadian Graham DeLaet overcame first tee nerves and the weight of lingering chip yips to post an opening 66. Great stuff from Bob Harig on DeLaet’s honor of going first out

I wrote about Bubba's amazingly positive reviews of all things Rio, golf course and maintenance. Shoot, he even didn't have much issue with his 73.

Photos from the IGF's official photographers Stan Badz and Chris Condon.

And in case you are wondering why golf might look extra great to the IOC, consider that a boxer tried to assault a housekeeper and still got to fight a match, a sailor is battling a serious Guanabara Bay infection, while one of the key pools for water polo and sychronized swimming has turned green.

Or, in Ryan Lochte's case, turned his bleach hair green.