"Rio favela seeks to improve kids’ lives through golf"

After the relentless attention the Associated Press’ Stephen Wade gave the Olympic golf course project in Rio—none of it positive—it’s nice to see the same news organization covering a golf-related game grower in Rio who has created the “City of Golf” training ground.

From Diarlei Rodrigues' and Mauricio Savarese’s story about Marcelo Modesto.

A caddie for four decades, the 54-year-old Modesto has opened a golf training center in the most violent area of the favela. Without public or private funding, from just a sheer passion for the sport, Modesto has attracted 100 kids to the ground in hope of starting some on the path to becoming professionals, or doing something to get off the favela streets.

The City of God golf training ground is part of a program that hopes to develop children from one of Brazil’s most violent favelas into budding golfers who are invited to use the course from the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.

Their introduction to golf is rudimentary, at best.

The City of God training ground is only 1,600 square feet (150 square meters), which is less than the size of your average putting green. A community center once filled the site. Interested kids, who are mostly Black, play with donated clubs and balls. Instead of holes, they hit buckets. As a warmup, they swing wooden sticks around their backs.

And no matter how intense practice gets, they remain alert for any sound of gunshots.

Take That, Infomercials: Olympic Late Night Ratings Best Since 2019 President's Cup

Before we get to the Olympic ratings news supplied by NBC/Golf Channel, just a reminder that this Thursday’s early morning Golf Channel viewing options cover a vast array of ailments starting at midnight PT/3 am ET: Squat into the best of you! is followed by 5 Makeup Tips 4 You before giving way to the last hour, one-two punch of greatest Must See TV since Cheers and Night Court: Stop Brain Fog and Arthritis + Neck Pain.

If nothing else, this should help a few Villages early-risers fall back to sleep. This middle of the night lineup airs just a bit later than the block last week showing third round women’s Tokyo Olympic golf and the week before that, men’s second round play.

Guess what?

Ratings were up big! But the men’s Olympic golf was down about 8 million American viewers compared to 2016’s final round picked up by NBC. So there’s that.

From Golf Channel PR:

• Coverage of the down-to-the-wire final round of men’s golf on Saturday, July 31 delivered the best late night viewership in GOLF Channel history (878,000 viewers, Midnight-3:30 am ET), and ranked second among all networks in that time period (behind only NBC’s “Prime Plus” Olympics show).

Where, incidentally, the golf was not deemed good enough to show on NBC Prime Plus.

Last time, NBC gave around 90 minutes to the final round and had 8.8 million average viewers plus huge (very specific) streaming numbers.

• Primetime coverage of the men’s golf competition averaged 565,000 viewers – marking GOLF Channel’s best four-day primetime stretch since December 2019 (President’s Cup).

Also worth noting: early 2016 coverage from Rio on Golf Channel drew a 1.22 rating and an average of 1.845 million viewers.

On the women’s side the numbers were pretty awful in Rio and so anything was bound to be better.

• Coverage of the women’s golf competition averaged 345,000 viewers – a 26% increase over the same event in Rio in 2016. The final round on Friday, August 6 (595,000 viewers) increased 39% from comparable Rio coverage.

• Last Friday’s final round of the women’s competition was GOLF Channel’s most-watched women’s golf telecast since August 2017 (Solheim Cup final round).

NBC did show a nice chunk of the women’s third round late Friday/early Saturday but did not show any of the exciting final round.

Hoping For 72 But Women's Olympic Medals Could Be Decided After 54 By Weather, Nelly Korda

Rex Hoggard with the latest from Tokyo where the forecast pretty much stinks in every regard: oppressive heat with the great chance of severe storms. But it sounds like on site officials are doing their best by moving up tee times and at least trying to go early Saturday.

Though it may not matter after Nelly Korda posted an incredible 62 even with a double bogey on the last hole, opening up a four-stroke lead. Last week, Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini recorded two bogies and still posted a final round 61.

"One belated Olympics later, [golf] still feels like a strange fit."

Esteemed New York Times writer John Branch is underwhelmed by Olympic golf, and even more so after visiting Kasumigaseki for the final round.

The Olympics in Tokyo already feel as if they are taking place on a series of television sound stages, devoid of fans and atmosphere, inside and out. But no place has felt as disconnected, physically and spiritually, as the men’s golf event, held at an exclusive private club more than an hour’s drive from the city center and contested mostly by spectacularly rich and famous touring pros.

Back in Tokyo on Sunday, near the heart of the pandemic-muted Olympics, medals were awarded to mostly unsung athletes in sports like fencing, swimming, weight lifting, gymnastics and BMX. In one BMX discipline on Friday, a gold medalist from Britain was competing only because she had crowdfunded her training.

Well when you put it like that…

The tournament took a zany turn at the end, with a seven-man playoff necessary to determine the sole recipient of the bronze medal. Eventually, C.T. Pan of Taiwan claimed it in a head-to-head battle with Collin Morikawa of the United States.

Golf was reintroduced for the 2016 Rio Games after a 112-year absence. Justin Rose won for the men, Inbee Park for the women, but it was hardly popular and not particularly memorable.

One belated Olympics later, it still feels like a strange fit.

The 2024 venue is Le Golf National outside Paris and Riviera in Los Angeles. Both are better situated in terms of geography. But as for rich pros playing a stale individual stroke play event? That hasn’t changed.

Tokyo Olympics: USA's Schauffele Wins Gold, Converted Slovakian Takes Silver

Xander Schauffele (Olympic Golf Twitter)

Xander Schauffele captured Olympic gold with a clutch, final hole par putt. The American and San Diego native held off a spirited charge from Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini, who posted a Kasumigaseki and Olympic record final round 61.

"For me I wanted this for my Dad more than anything, Schauffele told Golf Channel. “I tried to represent my country, and then my family. It was really fun."

Schauffele was introduced to golf by his dad and coach, Stefan. He picked up the game during the 1980s after hitting balls in a Tokyo department store simulator.

After an up-and-down for birdie at the drivable 17th, Schauffele missed the 18th fairway, wedged out and played this impressive third to set up his par:

WHAT. A .SHOT.@XSchauffele sticks it close on 18 - he'll putt for par and the gold medal 🥇#TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/Zk51SBQU0C

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) August 1, 2021

Schauffele joins George Lyon (1904) and Justin Rose (2016) as the only Gold medal winners in men’s golf. (If you count 1900, which most don’t, then Charles Sands is also in the club).

Heading into the event he was the 9-1 second choice while Sabbatini was a 150-1 longshot.

The 45-year-old Sabbatini birdied the 18th to set 17-under-par as the clubhouse leader on a day when multiple players had a shot at medaling. Sabbatini’s birdie putt included a celebration before the ball even reached the hole.

Sabbatini became a citizen of Slovakia in 2019 and is married to his Slovakian caddie, Martina.

The finale played out at around 3 a.m. ET/12 am PT on Golf Channel, but even well out of the prime time window when other sports take priority, NBC stuck with a round of 16 beach volleyball match between USA’s Claes/Sponsil vs. Canada’s Bansley/Wilkerson.

Golf’s return to the Games in Rio saw the network pick up the final 90-or-so minutes and, despite a less-exciting finish than 2021’s Schauffele win, averaged 8.8 million viewers. That made it the second most-watched golf event of 2016.

As of press time, the seven-way playoff for Bronze had not been decided.

Olympic Leaderboard Bunched: Medal Playoffs Could Be Exciting And Strange

Americans trying to stay awake for the men’s Olympic golf conclusion will be challenged by the lack of crowd energy, a soft and dull design, lethargic pace of play and a minimalist broadcast.

But, as Sean Zak notes for Golf.com, the bunched leaderboard means we could get some excitement.

Playoffs are coming … right? They have to be. This leaderboard is so bunched, it feels like we’ll have our first playoff for a medal, as there was none at the 2016 Games in Rio. How crazy is it that both men’s and women’s fields at the 2016 Olympics finished with a solo first, a solo second and a solo third place finisher?

With 27 players currently within five shots of third place, on a course where it has been difficult to create separation, we will almost surely see a playoff for a medal on Sunday. If it happens it’ll be sudden death, with the highest ranking medal up for grabs being decided first. The dream scenario? A four-way tie for first place.

This potentially wild scenario did not occur in Rio after the course magically separated the field and all medals were decided in regulation play.

Xander Schauffele (-14) currently leads by a stroke over 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama (-13) in a rematch of their Masters duel in April, as Rex Hoggard explores for GolfChannel.com. They tee off at 11:09 am JST.

Seven players are within four and twelve are within five strokes of the lead.

Golf Channel goes live in the United States from Kasumigaseki Country Club beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET, with the leading threesome going off a 10:09 p.m. ET.

Rahm Is Well, Likely The Victim Of "Remnant Viral Particles"

Of the two high profile golfers to miss the Tokyo Olympics over a positive COVID test, Jon Rahm is the first to speak and while he’s healthy, he’s also miffed by what exactly knocked him out of the Games.

From Doug Ferguson of AP:

More maddening to Rahm is searching for answers on why this happened to him.

“I haven’t had two experts tell me the same thing,” he said.

Andy Levinson, the PGA Tour’s senior vice president who has overseen the COVID-19 protocols, was not involved in any of Rahm’s tests and hasn’t spoken to him. From his experience and working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said it sounded like what the tour dealt with last summer.

Some players still tested positive for weeks — sometimes months — after 10 days of isolation and no symptoms.

“The reason the CDC does not require someone to test again after 10 days of isolation is it’s very likely that for some period the test is going to detect remnant viral particles,” said Levinson, who also is head of USA Golf at the Olympics.

"Two South Korean golfers will play these Olympics with everything to lose"

With a depleted field, no spectators, a bland format, dicey forecast and an ultra-private venue forced into not discriminating against women, Tokyo’s Olympic golf isn’t exactly the center of international intrigue.

Si-Woo Kim and Sungjae Im will not agree.

They’re easily the most compelling story of the golf portion of the Games after skipping The Open in hopes of medaling. Their reward should they make the podium? Exemption from mandatory military service for any medal won.

Check out a very nice piece of research and writing by GolfDigest.com’s Daniel Rapaport, who explains why this is the case for Kim and Im, the history behind the policy and the unfortunate case of Sangmoon Bae after he had to quit a burgeoning career for two years of military service.

Golf Channel coverage of play begins Wednesday at 6:30 pm ET in the United States.

How To Make Olympic Golf Major

The Quadrilateral is all about the majors and Ryder Cup this year, but I couldn’t resist making one more plea to make Olympic golf major. Or seem bigger, more dramatic and definitely resembling something closer to the Ryder Cup than the WGC Kasumigaseki.

Working within those parameters I presented a format along with the men’s and women’s teams who would be competing this week. Subscribers already enjoyed this in their inbox this morning, so sign up if you haven’t. Well, get the vaccine first then sign up for The Quadrilateral.

Five Years Later, The Rio Olympic Golf Course Is Very Much Alive And Well

January, 2020 Google Earth image of Rio’s Olympic course

After much sweating, headache and even a little fear for lives, the Rio Olympic golf course was completed in time for the games. The Gil Hanse-Amy Alcott design was a massive collaboration between multiple parties, including the PGA Tour and International Golf Federation. Yours truly even paid a visit to share ideas, a documentary crew captured the process and the course was kind of a huge hit.

So while most of Rio’s other Olympic venues languish—and lazy stories like this Business Insider claim of its abandonment have circulated, only to then report in 2020 it wasn’t busy, the Rio course is appears to be thriving in ways that seem unimaginable five years since Justin Rose took gold over Henrik Stenson.

Most amazing of all? It may center around how stunning the conditioning looks. To say this course looks lean (in a great way) might be underselling it. Long feared as a place that would be overwatered and too lush for the Sandbelt-style golf envisioned by the design team to show the world a more sustainable game, the Rio course is delivering. Look at this close up from the Google Earth shot 19 months ago:

Now that is a beautiful shade of green!

But if you want proof that the course has become a lively place to be on a daily basis, give their Instagram account a follow. They had a concert in the progressive clubhouse last week! And you can follow along to see what the operators are doing to promote the game. No, the purveyors aren’t growing the game in the favelas, but they are keeping the place public, thriving and conducting outreach programs to juniors.

While some smaller events have been played there it’s a little surprising another big event like the Latin America Amateur Championship hasn’t been played there.

A recent post with video footage:

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A post shared by Campo Olímpico de Golfe (@campoolimpicodegolfe)

Rahm's 2021 Olympic Dream Ends With Another COVID Positive

🇪🇸 Olympics pic.twitter.com/ZsXg3GDEsh

— Jon Rahm Rodriguez (@JonRahmpga) July 25, 2021

Plenty remains unexplained but for now we’ll just go with the IGF press release and Rahm’s statement above.

IGF STATEMENT REGARDING TEAM SPAIN 

TOKYO, JAPAN (July 25, 2021) – The International Golf Federation was informed on Sunday that Jon Rahm tested positive for COVID-19 as part of the final testing protocol before leaving for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and therefore is unable to compete for Spain. 

The Spanish Olympic Committee stated that without adequate time to find a replacement and comply with the necessary health protocols required for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Spain will only be represented by Adri Arnaus.

In accordance with the IGF’s Late Athlete Replacement Policy, the next available athlete identified by the IGF Reallocation Reserve List will replace Rahm, following nomination by his National Olympic Committee. 

The men’s Olympic competition begins Thursday, July 29 (local time) at Kasumigaseki Country Club.

Rahm test positive during the Memorial Tournament and was forced to withdraw. He had received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine earlier in the week after a close contact. Rahm then came back to win the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

He’s since traveled to the asymptmtc Scottish Open and The Open Championship where he was presumably tested multiple times. Rahm joins Bryson Dechambeau and caddie Austin Johnson as known cases post-Open.

The PGA Tour’s COVID-19 testing program was set to end this week at the 3M Championship according to GolfDigest.com’s Tod Leonard.

Presumably his case will be of interest beyond golf to determine how he could so quickly have tested positive again and whether the highly contagious Delta variant played a role.

**World No. 199 Jorge Campillo is going to take Rahm’s spot.

IGF STATEMENT REGARDING TEAM SPAIN 

TOKYO, JAPAN (July 26, 2021) – The Spanish Olympic Committee has informed the International Golf Federation that Jorge Campillo will replace Jon Rahm as a representative of Team Spain in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. 

Campillo will join Adri Arnaus in representing Team Spain for the men’s competition which begins Thursday, July 29 at Kasumigaseki Country Club.

DeChambeau Out Of Olympics Due To COVID Positive, Reed Steps In

USA Golf announced the unfortunate news of Bryson DeChambeau testing COVID-19 positive. He is out of the Tokyo games and will be replaced by Patrick Reed.

This is one of those press releases that should have ended after the third graph…

Bryson DeChambeau tested positive for COVID-19, as part of the final testing protocol before he left the United States for the Olympics 2020 in Japan. He will be unable to compete for Team USA. 

Patrick Reed will replace DeChambeau and is undergoing the requisite testing protocol today, Sunday and Monday before departing for Japan. The first round of competition is Thursday, July 29 (local time). Reed is now the only two-time Olympian for the men’s competition, as he played for Team USA in 2016 and will now compete in the 2020 Olympics.  

Representing Team USA Golf now includes Patrick Reed plus Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele in the men’s competition, and Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang, Lexi Thompson and Jessica Korda in the women’s competition.  

“I am so excited to have the opportunity to represent our country and be a part of Team USA in Tokyo,” said Reed.  “I wish Bryson nothing but the best, and I know how disappointed he is to not be able to compete, and I will do my best to play my best and represent our country.”  

“I am deeply disappointed not to be able to compete in the Olympics for Team USA,” said DeChambeau.  “Representing my country means the world to me and it is was a tremendous honor to make this team. I wish Team USA the best of luck next week in Tokyo. I will now focus on getting healthy, and I look forward to returning to competition once I am cleared to do so.” 

No mention of having been vaccinated and yet, testing positive.

Barring a false positive we’ll put him down for still researching the vaccine.

“We’re obviously disappointed for Bryson, as we know how much he was looking forward to representing the United States in his first Olympics,” said Andy Levinson, USA Golf Executive Director.  “But we’re thrilled that Patrick Reed is excited to play for his country when he is called upon,

He’s not be asked to storm the beaches of Normandy, but go on…

even with the strenuous testing protocols and he is set to arrive just in time to compete – on a golf course he will have never seen prior to the start of competition. It really illustrates the importance of the Olympics and the value Patrick places on playing for Team USA and for his country.  We’re excited to welcome him to Tokyo soon and know he’ll be a formidable competitor for Team USA.”

We really didn’t need the hard sell.

Then again, as Bob Harig noted for ESPN.com, Reed was third alternate after Patrick Cantlay and Brooks Koepka. They presumably declined.

Olympic Golf Fever Is...Not There Yet

Axios survey

Take that, sport climbing! And water polo!

As the Tokyo games teeter on the verge of a superspreader event, they feel more like a money grab than ever. So it’s a challenge to focus on the incredible athletes and their quests.

In the case of golf, Americans seem to have only scant interest in the WGC Kasumigaseki according to an Axios/Morning Study survey of fans. Thanks to reader John for highlighting Jeff Tracy’s write up of the results which has Golf trailing almost everything in terms of fan interest.

As for the golfers, Collin Morikawa and Bryson DeChambeau reiterated their passion for representing Team USA next week, while Rory McIlroy is sounding increasingly annoyed he said yes. From Carl Markham’s Independent report:

"I am looking forward to getting another week's golf in and trying to get my game in shape. There's not much else to do there - so with 12 hours at the golf course hopefully I get my game into better shape.”

Boom! Kind of a long way to go to practice. But then he put on his Vice Commissioner’s hat.

"I'm not a very patriotic guy, I'm doing it because I think it is the right thing to do.”

Go Team Ireland! The visual version of these comments backed up what appeared in print.

Meanwhile the International Golf Federation charged with shaping golf’s inclusion in the Games is sending President Annika Sorenstam to the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. Growing the game!

IGF Finalizes Olympic Fields, Touts Younger "Gender-Neutral Audience"

Fields have been confirmed for Olympic Games golf competitions and you can see them here. On the men’s side, just 28 of the 60 players are inside the Official World Golf Ranking top 100.

The women’s field of 60 features 36 players inside the Rolex Ranking top 100.

In making the announcement, International Golf Federation president Annika Sorenstam was able to pry away from her busy American Century Championship preparations and social media whitewashing to issue a very organic quote.

“We are extremely pleased with the strength and diversity of both the men’s and women’s fields, which reflect the continued growth and popularity of golf,” said Annika Sorenstam, President of the International Golf Federation, which oversees the Olympic golf competition. “We have such wonderful storylines to share, be it Jon Rahm and Nelly Korda both winning major championships in the final week of qualifying to become the No. 1 players in the world, or the variety of lesser known but equally inspiring stories of Olympic athletes representing their respective countries.”

Sorenstam is scheduled to play the U.S. Senior Women’s Open the same week as the Olympic Men’s competition. Maybe she’ll track the storylines from the course.

If there was any doubt that Olympics is all about the money, look no further than the release touting numbers only advertisers care about.

Golf is looking to build upon the success of its return as an Olympic sport at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games after an absence of more than 100 years, when it achieved significant numbers internationally and was watched by a younger, more gender-neutral audience than that generally achieved for professional golf events. In fact, golf finished as the seventh most popular sport in Rio in terms of fan engagements around the world.

I presume gender neutral was meant to be a way of saying more women watched than normal. Maybe the IGF could just say that?

Olympic Women's Golf Field Set With Few High Profile Defections

The Kordas will represent Team USA in Tokyo along with Lexi Thompson and Danielle Kang

Once again the world’s best women are more on board with Olympic golf, though seeing both the U.S. and South Korea getting four players in does make me wonder what might have been if the field was a stroke play/team match play format like the NCAA golf.

The host country will be represented by Nasa Hataoka and Mone Inami.

Beth Ann Nichols with the notes and the photo gallery of the entire field.

England’s Georgia Hall and Charley Hull were the highest profile players to pass. Hull’s explanation on Instagram:

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A post shared by Charley Hull (@charley.hull)