Golf's governing bodies had seven years to "smooth over the ruffled feathers of sponsors or tournament officials whose events could have been sacrificed this year for the greater good of the game," but "because they would not make the tough calls, the players are left to wrestle with the difficult decision on whether to opt out of the Olympics" this summer, according to Karen Crouse of the N.Y. TIMES. If the power brokers had "taken care to carve out room in the schedule for the Olympics instead of shoehorning them into the calendar," top players like Adam Scott may have traveled to Rio. Scott said a calendar adjustment "definitely could have" changed his decision. But in their courtship of the IOC, top golf officials "were like the ardent suitor who gives little consideration to the future beyond the presentation of the attention-grabbing engagement ring." Rory McIlroy, who plans will represent Ireland, said, "I feel like the officials were patting themselves on the back for getting golf in." Crouse notes the recent withdrawals of players like Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Vijay Singh "will surely be followed by others" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/5). McIlroy yesterday also "spoke of his desire for golf's permanent residence in the Olympics." He said, "It's obviously being played in Rio this year and it's being played in Tokyo in 2020. I'm not sure if we're going to have another opportunity to win a gold medal after that depending on what happens." He added, "If we don’t somehow change the narrative of getting people more excited about it...I’m worried. ... I don't know how that will stack up against the other things that I've done in my career now, but maybe I might look back in 20 years’ time and a gold medal might be one of my crowning achievements in the game, you never know" (GOLFDIGEST.com, 5/4).
ISSUES TO WORK ON: ESPN.com's Bob Harig wrote if golf is to remain an Olympic sport beyond '20, it "will need more people" like Rickie Fowler to "embrace the concept, along with some better scheduling and maybe even a different format." Fowler "has scheduling issues that might cause him to skip his defense of the Scottish Open title he won last summer," and he "has not said if he will defend, but he made it clear that he will be in Rio, if eligible." Meanwhile, McIlroy "believes the scheduling concerns are valid," and he also "wondered about the individual stroke-play format and suggested some sort of team event or a mixed-team concept involving female golfers." He said, "Imagine the exposure for them." Scott "also endorsed the idea of a combined format" (ESPN.com, 5/4).
