Golfs Impact On The Rio Olympics:
And Why Rory McIlroy’s comments are wrong in almost every sense of the word.
As a huge golf fan, I am naturally confused and disconcerted with seeing the top 4 players in the world drop out of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, and Rory McIlroy have all removed themselves from the competition, for the most part citing the Zika Virus and its threat to the games. I personally believe that this perfectly encapsulates the problems with the Olympics as a whole, and opens up a very interesting pro vs. con debate to be held in the coming days. Golfs widely anticipated return to the Olympic Games will not include its best players, and there is more to talk about then meets the eye.
The PGA Tour is extremely lucrative, so lucrative that professional golfers generally hold anywhere between 5–8 spots on the list of the ten highest paid athletes in the world. Even those who aren’t top earners on the tour make a great living, typically have little to no lasting effects on their health when their career ends, and are well respected in most, if not all walks of life. This is why as we approach arguably and almost definitely golfs biggest tournament, The Open Championship, it feels a bit awkward to have the focus on the Rio Olympics. On the surface, this goes to show that in a world where an Olympic gold medal is simply an addition to a trophy case, rather then the “end all-be all” prize, we see players opting out of representing their country in order to (in the minds of many) better their own careers.
Rory McIlroy stated earlier today that he would “be watching the sports that matter”, and golf was not on his list. This is an outrageous statement to me, and one that he will, in my opinion, live to regret for a long time. Not only did he fail to acknowledge sports that have been cornerstone Olympic events for many years (Basketball, Soccer, Etc), he also downplayed the growth of his game through the Olympic Games. Jordan Spieth cited the Zika Virus, as well as “other threats” as his reasoning for dropping out of the games, a decision which no golf fan will enjoy hearing, but almost every golf fan will ultimately respect. This is a young man with a long life, as well as long career ahead of him. With golf guaranteed to be in the 2020 Olympics, the 22 year old most likely decided the risk was not worth the reward in this specific situation. Besides Zika, Brazil is suffering from lack of law enforcement, terrible sanitation, and increasing political violence. Rio is nowhere near where it needs to be as far as Olympic game preparation goes, and there is no guarantee that all of these facilities and stadiums will be complete or safe for competition. Regardless, that doesn’t excuse a widely known professional athlete in Rory McIlroy to condemn the games inclusion of his sport, and it is in fact relatively painful to listen to him make these comments. I understand worrying about your family, current or future. I understand worrying about your health, current or future. But downplaying the growth of your game, current or future, is a bad look and a look I’m sure McIlroy will have to deal with in the days, as well as weeks to come.
There will still be stars in the Olympic Golf competition, featuring the likes of Bubba Watson (5th in the world), Rickie Fowler (7th in the world), Patrick Reed (13th in the world), and Matt Kuchar (15th in the world) as far as United States competitors go. Graham Delaet (146th in the world) will represent Canada, home of Olympic Golfs last gold medalist George Lyon, in 1904. Delaet’s lower ranking is in large part due to his lack of recent competition, citing personal issues and nerves as the reason for missing Tour events. There will certainly be plenty to watch, and plenty of talent representing golf at the 2016 Rio games, however, it is a terrible look when superstars such as McIlroy come out and say things like he said.
As previously stated, I fully understand the issues and lack of willingness to compete in the Rio 2016 games as a professional golfer. I simply wish it wasn’t downplayed or condemned by a man who hasn’t won a PGA tournament this season in 12 tries. It hurts the aura surrounding golfs return to the Olympics, it hurts the view of his character as a superstar, it hurts the sports that he didn’t mention in his press conference today. Regardless, if you want to watch the top 4 golfers in the world compete in tournament form, it will have to be this Thursday at the Open Championship, a tournament won by Rory in 2014, the same year he captured his 2nd PGA Championship trophy.
Side Note: I will be watching golf in the Olympic Games, the competition isn’t as watered down as it seems. In fact, it features multiple players who have won on tour this season, something McIlroy has yet to do.
