Today In Not Really Zika Virus: IOC Evaluating, Player Slams WDs, Rory At Peace, Coke To Silhouette Jordan

Could male golfers get themselves DQ'd from future Olympics while the women show off in Tokyo?

The chances are slim, but after reading Steven Wilson's AP story, all of the players who mentioned looking forward to future Olympic opportunities may look silly.

Wilson spoke to top IOC man Thomas Bach, and under Wilson's scenario, option is on the table to drop the men but not the women, though Bach did not say that.

The IOC will meet after the Rio Games to evaluate golf and all other sports and events on the program.

"One of the main categories of the evaluation is, of course, the question of participation of the best players," Bach said. "Let us wait then for this evaluation. Then, of course, we will also speak with the International Golf Federation once this is available."

By evaluating events within each sport, the IOC could look separately at the men's and women's tournaments. As it has been almost exclusively male players who have been withdrawing from Rio, the IOC could potentially consider whether to drop the men's event and keep the women's tournament for Tokyo.

Brian Keogh of the Irish Golf Desk quotes Rory McIlroy at length, who says he feels even more peace of mind than ever not going.

Explaing his Olympics decision in detail, he said: “Zika is a risk but there are other risks attached to going to Rio from political unrest to security issues. So there is more to it that that.

“There were enough people around me, members of my team and my family who weren’t comfortable and I wasn’t comfortable going down there so I felt that the best decision for me was to pull the plug."

And he presumes Tokyo will be there for him in four years.

“We have golf in the Olympics in Tokyo in four years’ time and if I really feel the need to get that Olympic experience hopefully, I can go there and do that.  

“I have no regrets. I have made my stance pretty clear and golf in the Olympics. I play for other things.

“Golf in the Olympics is great for golf and to grow the game. There is no question about that. But with the number of top professionals have decided not to go, that shows where it stands in our minds."

Hopefully Thomas Bach didn't see that last line!

Speaking to Morning Drive's Cara Robinson, Gary Player took his criticism of the Olympic WD's to a new level.

"I'm bitterly disappointed," said Player, the team captain for South Africa. "In America today, their plus-minus combined with car accidents and guns, 100,000 people killed a year, and you're going to go and play in a golf tournament where Zika is the great word. I think there's a greater chance of that happening to you in America than getting Zika. I was just in Zambia, where you have Malaria, and it didn't concern me at all.

"I'm really amazed," he added. "I just hope that it doesn't hurt golf. I hope we stay in the Olympics. I do believe we should have it for amateurs and not for professionals."

And Coca-Cola has coverted planned packaging featuring Jordan Spieth to a silhouette of a golfer, reports SBJ's Ben Fischer (H/T John Strege who has other details on the change in marketing approach).