Golf’s Schedule Takes the Sheen Off Olympic Gold

Golf in the Olympics is ridiculous. Just another Tim Finchem money grab (for professional golf not the golfers themselves). I hope some complete unknown wins it. And that it's dropped from the next Olympics and forever. And yes I am a serious golfer.

I think 22 out of the top 25 is pretty good. Scott's decision is completely understandable. Guys like Rory and Jordan who don't have families yet can enjoy the Olympics.

Rory's got a great attitude, and you have to hand it to him for being a good sport. That being said, this article is spot on. Everything about golf in the Olympics betrays opportunism and slap-dash preparation. The format is so, so dull. 4 rounds of stroke play, great...we only see that every single week of the year. Adam Scott is right, how about a mixed-gender team format - maybe the top ranked male and females paired together in a best ball, match play. Or, at the very least, forget about inviting professionals, and make it amateurs only. That's what the Olympics should be about, anyway.

Good for Scott. And yes, he shows what should be obvious: Golf has no business in the Olympics, and neither does tennis. Golf has four major championships each year, and two major international tournaments - Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. No need for the Olympics. And with a field of only 60 players (presumably limited to about 3 per country), it will be a much less competitive group than for any PGA tournament, never mind the majors. Sure, winning an Olympic gold medal would be nice for a golfer, but it will never be a career highlight the way it is for a swimmer or a modern pentathlete.

It might have been more interesting if, as the article suggested, they had created a unique competition format, which they failed to do.

The IOC, in its pursuit of star athletes, is selling itself short: The Olympics makes stars; stars don't make the Olympics.

Adam Scott did the right thing for him and his family and you have to respect that. The average person has no idea how hectic the lives and schedules of these athletes are who have to perform week after week. A green jacket is nice. Watching your baby girl grow up is even nicer.

The Olympics will survive and ardent fans will tune in and watch the drama unfold as they do every other weekend. USA! USA! USA!

Personally, I think including golf in the Olympics is quite ridiculous. Although the players are undoubtedly athletes now, given the regimen of non-golf training they do, golf is still such a slow moving game that the Olympic ideal of 'faster, further, higher' does not apply. I'm not quite sure why the golf powers that be have found it so important to have it included, except that the Olympic rings and gold medals has some kind of cachet. And maybe the officials get some snazzy blazer they can show off at the next country club dinner. Meh.

I think the Olympics, both Summer and Winter, are bloated with sports that don't belong, and I think Golf is one of them. Phelps said "“You could probably argue that some of these guys probably think the Masters, the rest of the majors, are bigger than what the Olympics is. In reality, the Olympics is the largest level in athletics in the world. There’s no higher level of competition.”" In swimming and many other sports that may be true - there are national championships and worlds, but the public spotlight on the Olympics is biggest. In Golf, with all the majors and the PGA and European tour and the Fedex Cup, the top players in the world face a high level of competition several times a year every year.

Given the fact that golfers are outdoors for hours, possibly exposed to mosquito bites, given the prevalence of the Zika virus right now in Brazil, and given as well the danger of Zika to any golfer - as well as his sexual partner(s), is it any wonder that some golfers are choosing to stay away from Olympic competition in Brazil this summer?

No athlete or sport should be penalized for choosing to stay home this summer! To do so would be unfair and even unsportsmanlike. No athlete should have to put health or life at risk, when engaging in a sport or in the Olympics.

Each person must decide this individually. But Zika has higher risks than was originally thought. Brain damage to an unborn child. Brain seizures and other health risks to an adult. Plus the possibility of sexual transmission of the virus by a man for many, many months.

Some who won't be attending may blame scheduling problems, when actually they may have other reasons. And really they shouldn't have to give a reason!

Adam Scott has every right to choose spending time with his daughter over representing his country or his sport in the Olympic Games. But that in no way, "takes the sheen", off of an Olympic Gold medal. Some athletes get injured, some don't qualify and all but a few make the final for whichever sport is contending for a medal. I doubt we will be thinking about Adam Scott when that deciding match is contested and the Gold medal is draped over the winning Olympian's shoulders as their national anthem plays.

It is not surprising at all that different sports would feel differently about Olympic competition. Golfers, like tennis players, have weekly competitions, four revered majors like the Masters and Wimbledon, and many other important tournaments that draw the world's best players. So the Olympic competition is not inherently any greater, except for the chance to represent their countries. Also golf has no modern history in the Olympics so the value or status of a gold medal has not been established compared to winning a major. This very different from other sports that have fewer international events and more time between for training.

The establishment leadership in golf is a joke.

Adam Scott represents a lot of what is wrong with golf. Spoiled, overpaid athletes who can cloak themselves in family virtue when they should be laying it on the line for their fans, in this case their country.

Kudos to Rory, he gets it. He is also right that the competition format is boring and was a dropped ball by those who had a say in how it would be conducted. That's golf, stuffed shirts making calls that show an amazing lack of imagination which is why every bloody tournament is the same week after week.

First, who cares what Michael Phelps has to say about Olympic golf?

Second, we've really got our priorities as a society screwed up if we put participating at the Olympics above spending quality time with one's family.

Lastly, and perhaps more importantly, who cares about golf of any level? It's a prodigious waste of time, effort, water, and land. Watch or play a sport, not a game like golf.

I don't understand why professional golf has been included in the Olympics. There are plenty of minor sports that need the publicity.

The Olympics is the most over hyped, corrupt and extravagant waste of resources (after war) that exists on the planet. Why not take the billions and use it to build parks and bike paths and other playing fields for ordinary human beings to use and enjoy. The world already has a huge surfeit of professional sports competitions to watch. These attract a international field. Enough.

Interesting how Scott has opted to eliminate the Olympics from his schedule instead of some "pay for play" events. Makes you wonder what really is important to him.

It's not the schedule, its the mosquitos on the course that would keep me away.

As per usual , when it comes to the Olympics , the concerns and well being of the athletes come in last.

Too bad those golfers got other priorities ($$), you could be sure softballers would all be there. Women worldwide would make it their number one priority.

Golf is a pointless addition to the Olympic Games. Want to play for your country? The Ryder and President's Cups already provide a long history of international competition. These tournaments and the four Majors are golf's equivalent to the Olympics. Enough already, as certain top players are communicating by their decision not to participate.

Golf is not an Olympic sport. Period. Michael Phelps' comments about "there being no higher competitive platform than the Olympics" may well be true for his (obscure) sport, but it's not true for golf, which fields a near-international competition almost weekly, with a well-recognized series of major tournaments that identify the best of the best. I believe that, to be a Summer Olympic sport, an event must have some link to a truly ancient game (not merely Royal and Ancient) that he Greeks could conceivably have played -- and golf isn't one of therm. There are several events with very questionable Olympic qualifications, in my opinion, but that's for another conversation (see Baseball, Basketball, others). We don't need to be looking for still others like golf to add into an already crowded mix.

I'm so disappointed...NOT... as if I can't watch these golfers compete every weekend on NBC or ESPN if o wanted...this was clearly a greed play by that oh so ethical organization, the IOC....clearly desperate for more and more sponsorship dollars...I would much prefer to watch surfing or skateboarding than another cadre of ultra wealthy pros playing their game in the olympics. If you're going to add games like golf than why not poker and video ga Inc as well.

Without Tours and sponsors eliminating some tournaments this Summer or move them earlier or later, this result was almost assured. The location and health problems have just added to the problems. A shame that it will be eliminated after next Olympics.

A big golf fan, I could care less about the Olympics. I feel for the majority of clean athletes who play in sports, like swimming, gymnastics, for which the pinnacle is the Olympics. These nomadic extravaganzas, Olympics and World Cup, frequently seem to have the juice sucked out of them by doping or politics, or scandals related to choosing cities. Rio struggles with viral and bacterial infections stemming from pollution, and the pomp and pretension that all is well fools nobody. It is a shame that so much money goes into building venues that will subsequently be white elephants, and glossing over the rotting core, when that money could be directed toward basic problems affecting the population.... come to think of it, including the problem of over-population that has brought us to the brink of succumbing to our own waste and effluent in so many cities, from Flint to Beijing. Cheer up, children. Enjoy these, your good old days. The future looks much worse.

It's just not important to multimillionaire golfers that the Olympics are VERY important to most fans(especially young people) in their home countries- they are rich and do not need the publicity.

We see these professional athletes twelve months of the year. Now we're supposed to watch them in the Olympics as well? Stupid idea. Leave the Olympics to the bobsledders and the biathletes and the high jumpers. They deserve their moment in the sun even if it's only every four years.

Either Rory or Karen should have known there is no vaccine for the Zika virus.

Another stroke play golf tournament, this time in Rio? Yawn.
Sixty golfers, not the top 60 in the world but 2 from each country? Yawn.
Doesn't that leave out most of the best players in favor of delegations
from Colombia or Poland?
Sounds a lot like the "World Cup of Golf", that off-season event somewhere in the Caribbean that nobody watches.
Won't come close to the Open Championship on a links course in the middle of a storm blowing in off the Firth, or even the Valero Texas Open, for that matter.

There is no vaccine presently available for Zika virus.

Who cares? Tournament outcomes in golf are fairly random with the odds just slightly tilted in favor of the better players. This article proves the point by pointing out that Adam Scott, one of the best players in the world, was 42nd in the Masters, a tournament he cares about deeply. So the outcome of an Olympic golf tournament is as unpredictable, and noteworthy, as that of the Greater Greensboro Open (do they even hold that event anymore?).

The Olympics need not include every sport. Some sports just don't fit in the Olympic mold. Golf is one of them.

It is surprising that this article doesn't mention the threat of Zika and how it may have played a role in Adam Scott's decision (a father of one 18 month-old). Many Olympians are young enough that they are not yet planning to conceive children but some sports have plenty of athletes in the middle of their child-bearing years and it will be interesting to see the impact.

The Olympics? Yawn.
Maybe if Olympic golf creates gold medals for chipping, putting, driving, and sand play golfers could challenge Phelp's 22 medals.
Are there swimming competitions outside of the Olympics? Really? And people care about them?
If golf fails as an Olympic sport maybe they can create a corruption event. With national white collar criminal teams competing for money and the chance to hear their national anthem while standing on a platform.
Has fishing ever been a part of the Olympics? Bowling? Lawn darts? Pool? Billiards? How about competitive eating? At the highest level of sport. Do those sports have governing bodies?

What? Who could possibly object to yet another professional sport in the Olympics? Since amateur sports were declared boring a long time ago, who could possibly turn down the pros and the money that comes with them?

Instead of individuals competing for the gold medal, make it teams of four, with each player alternating shots. Imagine of US Team of Spieth, Fowler, Johnson, Mickelson or Watson...The Aussies would be formidable with Scott, Day, Allenby and Oglivie. Maybe a team concept would bring more of the best players together.

Already Olympic golf is beginning to remind me of the World Baseball Classic. Most American baseball players don't seem to care much about the WBC, and the event suffers in prestige and quality as a result. The WBC, much like Olympic golf, is essentially just added onto the regular competitive schedule with no consideration of shortening the regular season schedule. The MLB regular season proceeds as normal following the WBC because owners don't want to sacrifice revenue due to a shortened season. The governing golf bodies are faced with a similar problem -- corporate sponsors don't want to lose out on hosting their annual tournaments because of the Olympics. I love golf but it's already apparent that Olympic golf won't be as exciting as it should be. Too bad, especially compared to Olympic tennis, which is always thrilling. Golf should look to tennis for a successful model.

Forget golf, we should get rid of the Olympics altogether.

I wish this Olympic event were a team event: Four players selected from each entering country, who alternate shots over the course of the event. We don't need another individual golden champion, when it would be so much more entertaining to have teams of four players hit alternate shots.

Brazil is in political turmoil and a health hazard. Why go?