Tour Honchos Meet with IOC
George Lyon, Gold Medallist for Canada at 1904 Olympics. Courtesy: Cyber-golf.com
PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem along with the heads of the European PGA Tour, R and A and LPGA Tour met with Olympic officials in Lausanne, Switzerland last week.
On their agenda was a discussion about making golf an Olympic sport – again. It was once on the Games menu, way back at the turn of the 20th century. The 1904 Summer Games in St. Louis, actually. The gold medal in individual golf was won by George Lyon from Canada.
That was the last time golf was seen at the Games.
But the sport could be back as early as 2016 – unless, of course, you believe in the Mayan calendar which does not record time beyond Christmas, 2012. However, I digress…
I have argued in this space that golf would be a fine addition to the Olympic Games yet there are still those who think it would be waste of time.
The latest is Tim McDonald over at Worldgolf.com. He maintains that professional golfers are spoiled multi-millionaires and "I wouldn't be that thrilled at seeing Tiger Woods or any multi-millionaire golfer holding up the gold medal".
Well, why not? Just because they make a lot of money they shouldn't play for their country? Why not ban the really rich players from earning points for the Ryder Cup teams, then?
It's silly thinking. But McDonald's argument is well-intentioned. He reminds us of how the NBA players kicked butt for several Olympics before flaming out. That's a valid point yet only proves that individual stars don't make a team. His underlying assumption is that the United States would win gold right out of the gate in Olympic golf.
Again, look to the Ryder Cup for evidence to the contrary. Frankly, I think Team USA would be in for the fight of their lives at an Olympic golf tournament.
Tim McDonald needs to study the field of international players on the scene today. And while he's at it, he should also familiarize himself with the past 11 years of Ryder Cup history.
There are no gimmes on the world stage anymore.
Without a shadow of doubt I believe golf should be a part of the Olympics. With multiple new courses coming up in different parts of the world almost on a daily basis and new champions emerging from countries which have had almost no golf history to speak of, why shouldn’t the sport be a part of the Olympics. In this entire episode I don’t see the IOC having any problem with golf being inducted into the Olympics. The problem lies with players who would want to shirk the responsibility of playing for their country and fulfill some other commercial commitment instead. That is sad! At one point of time Payne Stewart is believed to have said that “Golfers are used to playing for something” expressing his disapproval of the idea of golf being a part of the Olympics.
I think a gold medal for the country should give someone like a Tiger Woods more joy than the number of trophies he adds to his cabinet each week. I know for a fact that an Olympic gold medal will create far more hype and interest in the media in one of the developing countries like India, China or Thailand than a professional golfer from one of those countries winning a golf tournament in some part of the world. That is why you need golf in the Olympics. It will give the game a great boost in these countries and put Golf in the big league. I just hope the nay sayers come on board!
Rob – An eloquent response. I couldn’t have put it better, myself. I think we can rest assured that Messrs Finchem, O’Grady et al are not going into this Olympic venture to be sidelined by the IOC. I firmly believe golf will be back in the Olympic family and in fairly short order. It meets so many of the IOC’s requirements for “entry”. Keep in mind, the IOC makes decisions more slowly than a receding ice-cap but they will come on board. The game is truly global; it’s crossing social and financial lines and it’s enjoying rapid growth throughout Asia and eastern Europe. Not to mention Russia…