2016 Olympics Discussion Thread

[newtogolf]

I know some people from Brazil, they are concerned about how their country will be presented during the Olympics.  The country has been hit hard by the drop of oil prices and many of their largest businesses are headed towards bankruptcy.  The Zika virus has hurt tourism as well so between Zika and oil many people are losing their jobs which is causing crime rates to increase rapidly especially near the beaches.  

When they were here a few weeks ago they didn't want to leave, I guess their country is going through some really tough times and the Olympics is distracting the government from where their attention needs to be.  

[boogielicious]

Some discussion confirming Zika as a reason to skip and an interesting idea about making it a team competition.

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2016/4/26/baker-finch-olympics-needs-team-format-asap.html

Quote

AAP talked to Ian Baker-Finch who all but backed this up with his "team" Australia member Adam Scott.

"I don't think people realise that Adam is not letting anyone down. It's his decision and he's entitled to make it. I am disappointed he won't be with us but I totally understand his position."

Baker-Finch has passed on his thoughts to the International Golf Federation.

While Gary Player and others fear the pullouts will affect the vote to keep the sport in the Games past 2020, Baker-Finch hopes it will just make them heed format change calls.

"I think it will make them think about making it a team competition. I'd even love to see it as a mixed team even - that would be awesome."

 

[Chilli Dipper]

After all the bad press about how much of a fiasco golf at the Olympics is going to be, just a reminder: there's also going to be a women's tournament in Rio this summer, and the ladies are psyched about it.

(Aside: let's go Gerina Piller, who's 18 holes away from her first LPGA victory. There are only two Americans in the top 15 of the Rolex Rankings at the moment, and Gerina would move up to be the tentative third U.S. representative on the women's side if she wins tomorrow.)

[nevets88]

A bit of a rant. I agree with some of his points but for different reasons.

Olympic golf growth ‘bulls**t’, says Wilkie

https://www.bunkered.co.uk/golf-news/olympic-golf-growth-bullshit-says-wilkie

[Chilli Dipper]

One, I have no idea who this guy is.

Two, India is a bad example to use. The game is growing quite rapidly, and there are more Indians than Germans, Canadians, or Irishmen in the top 500 of the world rankings. The challenge in that country is closing the gender gap at the competitive level; while there are ten Indian men among the top 500 of the OWGR, there is only one Indian woman in the top 500 in the Rolex Rankings (and she's at 478th).

Three, I've said countless times in these forums that the format which was decided on for the Olympics is crap. Qualifying does not feel like an accomplishment; there is no installed sense of duty for the best players to represent their country. If the intent is for the Olympic tournament to have a similar stature to majors in the golf landscape, the reward to the gold medalist (entry into the next year's majors) should not be equivalent to finishing 30th in the FedEx Cup standings. All medalists should be invited to next year's majors, and the gold should come with a three-year exemption, which would place it in "fifth major" status alongside the Players Championship.

[newtogolf]

I view Olympic golf as I would a web.com tournament, I'll watch it if it's the only golf on television but I really don't care much about it. The Olympics will only help grow golf if the network covering it provides adequate coverage of it.  If they air it at 3am no one will see it or care about it.     

I don't see Russia committing millions of dollars towards developing golf medal golfers in the same manner they did for weightlifting and gymnastics.  

As for the golfers, it should be a voluntary event, if someone doesn't want to represent their country, that should be their choice just like it is in other professional sports.

[Chilli Dipper]

I agree that the Olympics likely won't provoke countries that lack a golfing culture to invest heavily in the game from scratch; what it will do is convince countries that already have some of the infrastructure in place to develop further into players on the international stage, especially if they do not usually excel in other Olympic sports. Thailand, for example, has only won 24 Olympic medals in its history (mostly in boxing), but currently has two golfers in the top 50 of both the men's and women's world rankings.