Winning a major vs winning a gold medal

[boogielicious]

12 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

Voted no. The field won't be nearly as strong as the majors because of the format. Speith is just being a good representative of the Tour and is trying to play up the event, I doubt he feels as strongly about it as his quote indicates.

I agree with @SavvySwede. The field has been narrowed by the selection process. 

[pganapathy]

You get 16 potential opportunities to win a major, but in that same time span, you only get one shot at Olympic gold.  Yes, the medal will be considered a fifth major by most pro's.  Just ask Roger Federer, a man who was what, 17 majors, how much he values his Olympic medal

Edited November 25, 2015 by pganapathy

[dkolo]

7 hours ago, Silent said:

Absolutely no. Not in golf. Even though you have much more chances to win a major (as in 4 times a year vs once in 4 years), the field in a major is stronger and winning it holds more value in my book .In a lot of other sports with a big olympic history the Olympics are the biggest achievments and prizes and most important in a athlete's career. Golf doesn't have that history. Spieth already won majors, so I can imagine that at this moment he wants to win the Olympics at all. Personally I might even prefer to win a WGC or The Players before the Olympics.

The Olympics in golf slots basically above the WGC HSBC Championship, below all the majors, the Players, the other WGC and maybe some other Tour events like the Memorial. I'm in the fence about something like The Barclays and the Tour Championship. The Barclays has a deep field, but no one really cares about the win. The Tour Championship is the reverse of that. 

[Broke100Once]

Federer is a unique case since he and his wife met while they were both competing at an Olympics.  Naturally the Games holds a particularly warm spot in his heart.

The Olympic gold medal is the highest achievement for most sports in the Games, yet not for others --- basketball, tennis, baseball, hockey* and I'm assuming golf will be the same. 

* = unless you're a Canadian player, in which case winning a gold for Canada is equal to the Stanley Cup.

Quote

- Since Speith already has a couple of majors, winning a gold is "up there".  For someone that is say in their 30's or 40's and has yet to win a major, I would think winning a gold would pale in comparison to winning a major.

This is a great point.  If this was Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, etc. saying this, we'd all be rolling our eyes and telling them to win one of the big ones.

[David in FL]

I say no.  Not even close.

[GolfLug]

No..

No great logic at work here but just seems like sports like tennis, basketball, soccer, etc., and now golf seems to have more prestige in their individual pinnacle events (like majors..) compared to Olympics where they are just one of the many sport/games..

I don't want to make it sound like gold medals are dime a dozen but really there will be a couple of hundred other gold medal winners at the end of the fortnight in general.

 

[rkim291968]

I said yes for these reasons.

• It's a much more rare achievement in that it happens only once every 4 years, not 4 times a year.  Just making the team will be a huge achievement as you have to peak at the right time.
• You are representing your nation. 

 

Outside of US, Olympic is still huge.   Winning a medal instantly makes the person a national hero, especially, for a country which does not often win medals.    If this poll was conducted for Italians, Spaniards, Koreans, Russians, ...., I suspect the answers would be overwhelming yes.

[boogielicious]

14 hours ago, rkim291968 said:

I said yes for these reasons.

• It's a much more rare achievement in that it happens only once every 4 years, not 4 times a year.  Just making the team will be a huge achievement as you have to peak at the right time.
• You are representing your nation. 

 

Outside of US, Olympic is still huge.   Winning a medal instantly makes the person a national hero, especially, for a country which does not often win medals.    If this poll was conducted for Italians, Spaniards, Koreans, Russians, ...., I suspect the answers would be overwhelming yes.

The Olympics is Huge in the US. Not sure why you think it is not. But Olympic golf is new and we need to see if it really takes off. The issue for me is how it is seeded. They limit the number of golfers from each country, which would eliminate good players from countries that have a lot of high level players. It will also let lower OWGR get in because they represent a country that has relatively few good players.

[rkim291968]

On 11/26/2015, 6:11:18, boogielicious said:

The Olympics is Huge in the US. Not sure why you think it is not.

Relatively speaking, it is not so huge compared to other nations.   Just look at the title of this thread and result.   This would not even be a valid question if this forum is based in Russia, China, Korea, etc..    And the polling result would be resounding yes.    Take Korean LPGA players for example.   All top players main goal this year was to climb up the world golf ranking so that they can qualify for the Olympics.   Sei Young Kim cited the Olympics as the main reason coming to LPGA this year where she can improve her ranking more effectively.  

[iacas]

2 minutes ago, rkim291968 said:

Relatively speaking, it is not so huge compared to other nations.   Just look at the title of this thread and result.   This would not even be a valid question if this forum is based in Russia, China, Korea, etc..    And the polling result would be resounding yes.    Take Korean LPGA players for example.   All top players main goal this year was to climb up the world golf ranking so that they can qualify for the Olympics.   Sei Young Kim cited the Olympics as the main reason coming to LPGA this year where she can improve her ranking more effectively.  

Lot of assumptions there.

Golf has four majors already, and the field will be significantly weaker in the Olympics. I'm pretty sure Russia would be thrilled if one of their golfers won the Masters. Or the U.S. Open.

[rkim291968]

12 minutes ago, iacas said:

Lot of assumptions there.

Golf has four majors already, and the field will be significantly weaker in the Olympics. I'm pretty sure Russia would be thrilled if one of their golfers won the Masters. Or the U.S. Open.

 

Of course but one is playing for the national pride which only happens once every 4 years.  IMO, the experience of participating in Olympics is something much more special than playing in majors which happens 4 times a year for top players.    And to make it to the Olympics, one has to be in peak form year before the Olympics.  I.e, even a top player may never make it to the Olympics if the timing is not right for him.

[iacas]

5 minutes ago, rkim291968 said:

Of course but one is playing for the national pride which only happens once every 4 years.  IMO, the experience of participating in Olympics is something much more special than playing in majors which happens 4 times a year for a top players.    And to make it to the Olympics, one has to be in top peak form a year before the Olympics.  Even a top player may never make it to the Olympics if the timing is not right.  

a) You're assuming everyone cares as much as you think about national pride. It's still an individual sport.

b) "A top player may never make it to the Olympics" is exactly why it is not a great tournament - weak fields again.

The Olympics are important in other sports where it is the pinnacle of what you can achieve in the sport, against the strongest fields. That isn't true in golf.

[rkim291968]

a) you are assuming most of them don't care about national pride, and/or the experience of participating in the Olympics.

b) it may attract an weaker field but much more rare to win one.  That's one of my supporting arguments.   Some pros are more excited about winning the rookie of the year b/c they believe you get only one chance at it although winning it is much easier than winning the MVP title.  This is not an assumption.   I've heard a few who stated as such.

You are making your own set of assumptions about this thread as well.  

[iacas]

2 minutes ago, rkim291968 said:

a) you are assuming most of them don't care about national pride, and/or the experience of participating in the Olympics.

b) it may attract an weaker field but much more rare to win one.  That's one of my supporting arguments.   Some pros are more excited about winning the rookie of the year b/c they believe you get only one chance at it although winning it is much easier than winning the MVP title.  This is not an assumption.   I've heard a few who stated as such.

You are making your own set of assumptions about this thread as well.  

No, I'm putting context to them. Re: national pride, again, in other sports an Olympic gold is the highest thing you can achieve (plus many are played as teams, not individuals). This isn't at all true in golf.

Of course it's "more rare" to win one, but so what? You can arbitrarily make something more rare without necessarily making it more special. There's only been one PGA winner at Tanglewood… but so? And I highly doubt that, if asked, players would rather choose to win for their career ONE Rookie of the Year award or ONE MVP award. The former is easier to win, but also "rarer" because you get one chance at it. It sounds like lip service paid by rookies who want to talk up an achievement. Winning the MVP is a bigger achievement.

At the end of the day, I don't think many players are going to feel a strong sense of nationalism, and they're going to know the field is pretty weak. They'll talk up their achievements, and they'll talk up the Olympics, but deep down I am betting almost every professional golfer would much rather win a major than an Olympic gold medal. Just like the poll.

[mvmac]

43 minutes ago, rkim291968 said:

b) it may attract an weaker field but much more rare to win one. 

Yeah but that doesn't really matter when you're not competing against a strong field. 

For a player like Spieth, Rory or Tiger, a gold medal might be nice to check off their accomplishments list but I don't think it'll keep them up at night if they don't win one. 

Ask Phil if he'd rather have a gold medal or a U.S. Open win. Same thing with Arnie or Tom Watson, if they'd rather have a gold medal or a PGA. I don't anyone is picking the medal.

[rkim291968]

So, what's all the hoopla about Ryder's cup?   For the look of it, everyone is trying to make the team, they show lots of emotion during play, etc..   Shouldn't Olympic elicit more from the players to make the team, and play one for the nation?   What are your thoughts if the thread was about making/winning Ryder cup vs winning a major?   Ryder cup vs Olympics?

[iacas]

6 minutes ago, rkim291968 said:

So, what's all the hoopla about Ryder's cup?   For the look of it, everyone is trying to make the team, they show lots of emotion during play, etc. Shouldn't Olympic elicit more from the players to make the team, and play one for the nation? What are your thoughts if the thread was about making/winning Ryder cup vs winning a major? Ryder cup vs Olympics?

The Ryder Cup has a history and is a team event. Apples and oranges.

[rkim291968]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

The Ryder Cup has a history and is a team event. Apples and oranges.

Olympic has prestige and history, and it a national competition as far as "team" event goes.  Indeed, they are apples and oranges.  

 

1 hour ago, mvmac said:

For a player like Spieth, Rory or Tiger, a gold medal might be nice to check off their accomplishments list but I don't think it'll keep them up at night if they don't win one. 

Ask Phil if he'd rather have a gold medal or a U.S. Open win. Same thing with Arnie or Tom Watson, if they'd rather have a gold medal or a PGA. I don't anyone is picking the medal.

For Spieth & Rory who are likely to make the Olympic team, the question will be asked.  Love to hear their response.