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[Megalosaro]

Washington (AFP) —
Top-ranked Jason Day, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott lead a host of men’s golf stars who have withdrawn from the Rio Olympics, an exodus that could jeopardize the sport’s return to the Games lineup after an 112-year absence.

The mosquito-borne Zika virus, which can cause birth defects and severe illness, is mentioned by many — including Australia’s Day, Northern Ireland’s McIlroy and Japan’s 17th-ranked Hideki Matsuyama — among a nightmare combination of Rio woes ahead of next month’s Olympics and Monday’s deadline to finalize rosters.

“With what’s going on with Rio and the Zika virus, there’s a small chance it could happen and I just can’t put my family through that, especially with the future children we’re looking at having,” Day said. “I need to make sure the priority is family first over golf and the Olympics.”

Of the 15 highest-ranked players who would be eligible to play in Rio, seven have said they will not go — Day, McIlroy, Scott, Matsuyama, South Africans Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen and Irishman Shane Lowry. South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel, a possible fill-in at 22nd, also said no.

“I cannot be 100 percent sure about my safety, and my team’s safety, from the Zika virus,” Matsuyama said. “I cannot put myself or my team member’s health at risk.”

McIlroy noted the dream of Olympic gold that drives swimmers, track and field stars and others to chase ultimate glory every four years is not a part of golf, where the longing for major trophies becomes real four times a year.

“Most other athletes dream their whole lives of winning an Olympic gold and we haven’t,” McIlroy said. “We dream of winning (British Open) Claret Jugs and (Masters) green jackets. I’ve said to people I have four Olympic Games a year. That’s my pinnacle.”

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, Fiji’s Vijay Singh and Aussie Marc Leishman have also said no to Rio, prompting some to say Olympic gold will have a watered-down value.

“There’s not going to be an asterisk,” Day said. “You win a tournament based on the competition you play and the competition is going to be great regardless.”

- Pullouts will impact IOC -

McIlroy told the Golf Channel that golfers being Olympians “does an injustice to the people who have trained for four years for this event. Golfers are going to go down there for a week, pitch up and enjoy the whole thing. (Other) people have had to sell their cars and their homes just to afford to train to compete at the Olympics.”

Add Rio’s shootouts and rising crime rate, political turmoil, transport woes, huge recession, sewage-polluted water, human body parts found near the beach volleyball venue and police struggling to obtain basics like toilet paper and fuel and it’s no wonder U.S. talk show host Stephen Colbert suggested the Olympic slogan: “Brazil: Come for the sport, stay ‘cause you’re dead.”

“There are quite a few different factors that would turn somebody away,” said world number two Jordan Spieth, who is undecided about Rio. “There is other bacteria stuff and then security threats. Transportation is a big issue.”

The International Olympic Committee’s vote next year on whether to keep golf beyond the 2020 Tokyo Games is far from secure.

“Will it impact? Yeah, I think it will,” Spieth said of the withdrawals. “There have already been enough players that I think it’ll definitely have an impact.

“Pending some crazy, great finish or whatever, I think there’s a significantly lower likelihood now of it staying in the Olympics than there was six months ago.”

American Bubba Watson, a two-time major winner, says chances for support beyond 2020 aren’t that bad.

“The (IOC) has to look at this and go, ‘Don’t penalize golf because of a weird situation,’” Watson said.

- Added burden for U.S. players -

Up to four top-15 players can compete in Brazil for one nation and Americans Spieth, Watson, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler are all in the top seven.

“Do I feel an added burden? All four of the Americans that are in right now do now that guys have dropped out,” Spieth said. “But this is a personal safety decision, which is going to outweigh any kind of pressure we would feel.”

Day and McIlroy say they would be ready to play were 2020 host Tokyo this year’s site.

“If the Olympics were in most other cities, you wouldn’t find as many people not wanting to go,” McIlroy said. “There’s another Games in Tokyo in 2020 and I’m more than happy to wait until then to get that Olympic experience.”

In the meantime, 14-time major champion Tiger Woods would like to see a tougher field with the top 50 eligible.

“It would be better if we had a more top-heavy field,” Woods said. “I think the Olympics really deserve that.”

Scott, who would rather see amateurs in the Olympics, says officials need to learn from this year’s mess.

“I just don’t think enough of the best players are there,” Scott said. “It just doesn’t seem to make sense to me that we have a fairly weak field.”

http://www.japantoday.com/smartphon...stars-for-rio-could-jeopardize-olympic-status
For the the first time in for ever we finally get golf back in and it's tainted. Let's hope Tokyo 2020 is better.


Japan gonna get the gold btw

 

[The Albatross]

I didn't even know Golf was going to be an event at the Olympics.

 

[Megalosaro]

Golf is an amazing sport

 

[firehawk12]

This basically killed baseball at the Olympics isn't it? None of the stars went, so no one cared.

 

[Amory]

It really, really sucks that so many top players have dropped out. Golf is amazing when all the stars are playing in a tournament.

I get the feeling zika is more of a scapegoat than the real reason a lot of them aren't going to play. Golf has a lot of stuff going on this year with the Ryder Cup in addition to the 4 majors, so there's already enough events for them to participate in, and I think the larger shitshow that the Rio olympics has turned into is what's keeping people away. They just don't think it's worth it.

Plus no one knows what this course is going to be like. Didn't they throw it together really quickly?

it should be excluded, so i don't really care if it disappears again

bye

the addition of golf is literally the only reason i care about the olympics this year. I never bothered to watch them before, I will now

 

[Sectorseven]

Isn't golf shrinking overall? People don't have time to play like they used to.

 

[Nevasleep]

I don't blame them. They have the PGA tour and the Opens, unlike normal athletes, so don't need to take any risks.

Although I think it should stay in the Olympics for a while, 15 top golfers fighting for a gold medal.

amazingly boring

I used to agree and still do when coverage cuts between lots of players. But I love it on a final round, when two or three players are fighting for the win.

 

[Hasney]

Eh, I'm not bothered. Golf should be back at the next sensible location for the Olympics, because Rio seems like a farce.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

It's sad. These golfers don't need the Olympics. They make bigger paychecks away from it so don't need the hassel of Zika or shitshow preperations, but real Olympians like track stars have to go if they want a financially secure future and thus risk their health.

 

[SirClinksAlot]

This basically killed baseball at the Olympics isn't it? None of the stars went, so no one cared.

Yup. Look at US basketball for this Olympic team. A lot of the big names are staying home so its not going to be as interesting.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

It's sad. These golfers don't need the Olympics. They make bigger paychecks away from it so don't need the hassel of Zika or shitshow preperations, but real Olympians like track stars have to go if they want a financially secure future and thus risk their health.

Yup. Most olympians are lucky if they have one or two appearances at peak physical condition. They don't have the choice to stay way, which I'm sure most otherwise would.

 

[Amory]

Yup. Look at US basketball for this Olympic team. A lot of the big names are staying home so its not going to be as interesting.

I'd actually argue if a lot of the US stars stay home it'll be more interesting. If they have everyone they just completely run over their opponents.

 

[Lkr]

Time for tiger to redeem himself. Win the gold for your country!

 

[Heebie Jeebies]

Darts should take it's place

 

[Futureman]

I thought this was going to be about star golfers being kidnapped or something.

 

[Maledict]

I think McIlroy is right. Just like Tennis, it really doesn't make sense for it to be at the Olympics when they have massive, major events every year and an already existing prize structure that is far more important than an Olympic gold. Everyone cheered when Murray won the gold in 2012, but it was winning Wimbledon that everyone wanted.

 

[Sephzilla]

amazingly boring

Golf is a fantastic sport to play. As a spectator sport it comes up a little short

 

[thelatestmodel]

It shouldn't be an Olympic sport anyway, let it go.

 

[ISWThunder]

It was a silly decision. The Olympics will always be considered a second tier tournament and world class golfers will find a reason to opt out and the ones that do play will be far more interested in winning a Major title..

The Olympics work best for minor sports. Those athletes dedicate their lives to making an Olympic squad and that passion for the sport/event shines through under greatest possible pressure and promotes the sports' growth.

Rugby Sevens was a good choice because it is a smaller, growing sport that can be perfectly cycled every four years. The IRB Sevens tournaments become a building block towards building a world-class Olympic program. Guys like Nate Ebner are willing to negatively affect their paying jobs to compete for a spot on Team USA.

 

[Malvolio]

It shouldn't be a sport anyway, let it go.

Fixed.

 

[Simply Sami]

Even tennis players a few of them have pulled out due to no ranking points. So it is a waste of time for them unless they one of the big four.

 

[Bread]

Yup. Look at US basketball for this Olympic team. A lot of the big names are staying home so its not going to be as interesting.

there are a lot of great players in the nba, the team is going to be amazing even if lebron isn't there.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

this is what happens when Tiger Woods doesn't matter anymore.

 

[jchap]

The Olympics would be much better if they aggressively cut down the number of sports. Something like track and field, wrestling, weight lifting, gymnastics, swimming, and boxing

 

[Megalosaro]

Hockey is a sport with an existing structure, yet is an Olympic sport.

Maybe gold is different because is a bit more international, but even so..

 

[bluehat9]

Shouldve at least been a team event (best ball/cumulative score/alternate shot) and not just another stroke play event against aweaker field compared to what they play the rest of the year.

Take the laziest approach to adding it and then wonder why no one wants to show up. Doesnt help that now all the majors got condensed into a short time and thats what the pros really care about and will be remembered for. Theyd rather take a week off to prep for them than go play in rio.

 

[Omega Kirby]

amazingly boring

Reason why baseball was removed from the olympics

 

[mantidor]

Zika is only really a problem for pregnant women. The symptoms are so mild most people don't even know they had it. There's so much fear mongering about it. For an outdoor sport like golf is a concern of course but it's honestly in the level of getting a sunburn.

 

[FStop7]

In a world where people are being stacked into super dense urban mcshoeboxes and austerity is an ongoing theme in pretty much every aspect of life a golf course is kind of an obnoxious concept

 

[AstroLad]

I don't like golf but unlike baseball, softball, and others it's a truly international sport. Think this will be only one of many things the Brazil disaster of an Olympics harms though.

 

[The Beard]

this is what happens when Tiger Woods doesn't matter anymore.

That has absolutely nothing to do with this. Even if he was playing right now, he'd be the last person I'd expect to show up in Rio.

 

[Palmer_v1]

They already play against worldwide competetion pretty often, so I can totally understand them not being very enthused about the Olympics. I'm surprised to learn this was ever an Olympic sport.

 

[obin_gam]

Barry Manilow needs his lyrics revised


At the Copa (CO!), Copacabana (Copacabana)
Golfers are leaving en'massa
At the Copa (CO!), Copacabana
Corpses are floating and bacterias are gloating
At the Copa....they fell in love

 

[see5harp]

Most Olympic sports are boring. You don't even know these people and need some Bob Costas voice over patriotic wank fest to even get any drama out of it. No one gives a shit about Michael Phelps.

 

[Faddy]

Golf doesn't mesh with the Olympics. The players already tour the world and play in front of huge crowds for lots of money.

It doesn't eclipse the Ryder Cup as the most prestigious international event

The tournament itself is exactly the same as a Tour Event, stroke play, 4 rounds over 4 days. They could have done something interesting like the old Alfred Dunhill Cup format but that would have excluded too many top Americans and Brits.

 

[Joni]

I think McIlroy is right. Just like Tennis, it really doesn't make sense for it to be at the Olympics when they have massive, major events every year and an already existing prize structure that is far more important than an Olympic gold. Everyone cheered when Murray won the gold in 2012, but it was winning Wimbledon that everyone wanted.

The tennis players do tend to go, and they all want the golden slam.

 

[LionPride]

Sevens being back at the Olympics makes sense. Gets rugby exposure to a wider audience, Golf being at the Olympics, doesn't make as much sense.