JDay, DJ, Others Pull out of Olympics, Rickie, Others Still Going

[Valleygolfer]

Dustin Johnson wants more kids and cites safety reasons in regards to the Zika Virus.

[Ernest Jones]

I'm not at all surprised by the golfing dropouts. The traditional Olympic athletes have worked for years and years towards their shot in the olympics, the PGA guys are mostly going on a lark. I'm sure there are lots of Olympians who are freaked out about the virus, but the decision to drop out carries FAR more weight for them. 

[b101]

3 hours ago, Ernest Jones said:

I'm not at all surprised by the golfing dropouts. The traditional Olympic athletes have worked for years and years towards their shot in the olympics, the PGA guys are mostly going on a lark. I'm sure there are lots of Olympians who are freaked out about the virus, but the decision to drop out carries FAR more weight for them. 

This sums it up perfectly. Whilst I'd love for golf to get to a wider audience, it doesn't need to be in the Olympics, in my opinion. The fact that the players aren't really that bothered says it all.

Edited July 9, 2016 by b101

[Patch]

I recently read that the 1st U.S. death has been recorded that can be linked to this virus. It happened in Utah, and the "elderly" person had just returned from vacationing in a zika virus hot spot. The person who died also had other chronic health issues that most likely weakened the person's immune system. The zika virus was not the actual cause of the death, but a contributing factor. 

[natureboy]

This is a bit more surprising to me than some of the others given his early 'ready to go' comments.

I wonder if his recent form has shifted his target this year to a run at the #1 spot? Would Rio success give any OWGR points?

[Wally Fairway]

So it looks like the Olympic mens golf event is turning more and more into an opposite field event.

Good for those who are playing in it; hopefully they will all be okay (meaning Zika and security). But I wonder if any of the players dropping out will play in the John Deere, or Traveler's/Windham (week before & after) as they don't have to travel 13'ish hours each way and/or stay for the opening or closing ceremonies.

 

[natureboy]

The thing that gets me about Zika is that it is a somewhat recently emerged threat.

There's not a ton of information about potential long-term effects arising from mild cases. I expect there's a lot of under-reporting of Zika exposure and most of the epidemiology is based on serious cases when people seek medical attention. Since it attacks the nervous system, that element of the 'unknown' would definitely be at least a bit concerning to me regardless of the likelihood of a serious case.

[Golfingdad]

2 hours ago, b101 said:

This sums it up perfectly. Whilst I'd love for golf to get to a wider audience, it doesn't need to be in the Olympics, in my opinion. The fact that the players aren't really that bothered says it all.

Or this is just an argument for them to use amateurs.

Or, it needs a little time to gain some prestige to make the players WANT to go.

But the presence of Zika and general disarray in Rio also cloud the situation quite a bit.  It would be a lot easier to know if there were other issues if they didn't have these to deal with as well. 

[natureboy]

1 hour ago, natureboy said:

This is a bit more surprising to me than some of the others given his early 'ready to go' comments.

I wonder if his recent form has shifted his target this year to a run at the #1 spot? Would Rio success give any OWGR points?

Sorry, Olympics do count for OWGR points.

I think what's happening is a bit of a cascade effect where as a few top players started to withdraw, the points value for the already somewhat weak field (due to individual country limits and max of 60 players) started to drop. With a packed schedule, plus the travel involved, it became less and less attractive in terms of maintaining one's world ranking, which is essential to Major opportunities and sponsorship. Add the other concerns and it was almost inevitable.

This may have been a bit less of an issue for the women as I think their top 60 is a bit more international than the men anyway so the individual country limits maybe didn't impact the field strength quite as much as the men.

If they don't change the minimum points for the event or free up space in the schedule for the next one it's likely to happen again even without Zika, sewage, and safety concerns.

http://www.owgr.com/about

Edited July 9, 2016 by natureboy

[Missouri Swede]

I heard that Gary Player said that he'd play.  (sorry, no black knight emoticons)

 

[natureboy]

9 minutes ago, Missouri Swede said:

I heard that Gary Player said that he'd play.  (sorry, no black knight emoticons)

Well that would definitely strengthen the field in terms of OWGR points and bring back the top players. 

[rkim291968]

If there was no Zika threat (a very remote one at that), these guys would come up with another lame reason.   It's shame, really.   Golf would need a lot of momentum to keep it going at the Olympics.   As I have mentioned in other threads, golf will be out of Olympics after a few events.   And we probably have to thank these guys for it.

[newtogolf]

I don't know how golf got back into the Olympics, did the USGA & R&A petition the IOC or was it the PGA and LPGA Tours?  If it wasn't the pro golfers pushing for golf in the Olympics I don't know why anyone is shocked they are backing out, especially given the conditions in Rio and the presence of Zika.  

[Golfingdad]

1 hour ago, rkim291968 said:

If there was no Zika threat (a very remote one at that), these guys would come up with another lame reason.   It's shame, really.   Golf would need a lot of momentum to keep it going at the Olympics.   As I have mentioned in other threads, golf will be out of Olympics after a few events.   And we probably have to thank these guys for it.

This is what I was kind of trying to say ... we don't really know if these guys care about the Olympics or not specifically because of the Zika virus.  Maybe their excuses are entirely sincere and they really would like to play.  Or maybe not.  It would be nice to know.  That would make it a lot easier to predict how it might fare in Tokyo.

[Aflighter]

I think it comes down to" Im too important and above playing in the olympics."Be interesting if any of the lower ranked players decide to not go.I cant stand Patrick Reed but he sounded like it would be honor to represent country.

[Jeremie Boop]

1 hour ago, Aflighter said:

I think it comes down to" Im too important and above playing in the olympics."Be interesting if any of the lower ranked players decide to not go.I cant stand Patrick Reed but he sounded like it would be honor to represent country.

I really doubt this is the case. If it were they would have stated their intent to not play right away. Does the idea of Olympic Gold carry as much weight for a professional golfer as it does for an amateur boxer, track and field athlete, or any other sport where non-professionals or smaller niche style sports? Probably not, but there IS still a lot of prestige associated with winning in the Olympics and I doubt very much that most, possibly any, of the people backing out of playing golf in Rio are doing it because they thing they are "too important and above playing".... I think it's interesting how people can just discount that there are actual risks involved in attending the Olympics in Rio, even above and beyond that of Zika. However, people are free to assume what they want and offer their own opinions. To me, however, it's much more telling of your state of mind when you assume the worst in others.

[Aflighter]

44 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I really doubt this is the case. If it were they would have stated their intent to not play right away. Does the idea of Olympic Gold carry as much weight for a professional golfer as it does for an amateur boxer, track and field athlete, or any other sport where non-professionals or smaller niche style sports? Probably not, but there IS still a lot of prestige associated with winning in the Olympics and I doubt very much that most, possibly any, of the people backing out of playing golf in Rio are doing it because they thing they are "too important and above playing".... I think it's interesting how people can just discount that there are actual risks involved in attending the Olympics in Rio, even above and beyond that of Zika. However, people are free to assume what they want and offer their own opinions. To me, however, it's much more telling of your state of mind when you assume the worst in others.

Theres gonna be swimmers swimming in dirty water and these guys wont even play golf.That tells you what these guys think about the olympics.I guess if they were to get paid theyd go huh.By the way im just making an observation compared to others that plan on going in any of the sports.Theres alot of pro golfers that seem like theyre entitled.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Aflighter

[Valleygolfer]

11 minutes ago, Aflighter said:

Theres gonna be swimmers swimming in dirty water and these guys wont even play golf.That tells you what these guys think about the olympics.I guess if they were to get paid theyd go huh.By the way im just making an observation compared to others that plan on going in any of the sports.Theres alot of pro golfers that seem like theyre entitled.

No sport is worth jeopardizing your life, money or no money. Gold medal only has value to the individual. At this point the whole thing is losing steam fast. Losing Day and Rory as well as Johnson and some others just shows you are better than whomever felt like showing up rather than the best in the world. "The best in the world" in their perspective sports is the way I have always perceived the Olympics. In this case, not so much. It is just another tournament where the nay sayers are going to be say, "If so and such was here, what would the outcome had been?"

Plus, I would pass if I had to swim in sewage.