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| Rickie Fowler was one of the more familiar names in the Rio Olympic golf competition. |
The first Olympic golf tournament in 112 years ended up a competitive success despite a diminished field, with three established winners taking medals in a hotly competitive final round.
But after the women’s tournament this week comes the hard part: Leveraging the Olympics to build some kind of market for the sport in Brazil, where it’s virtually nonexistent. Here’s where the sport starts: An estimated 20,000 Brazilians -- or one out every 10,000 -- plays golf, and Rio de Janeiro has just two private courses populated only by the very top of the economic ladder.
The Olympic Golf Course will become Rio’s first public course after the Games, when it will be turned over to the Brazilian Golf Confederation to operate. British journalist David Owen suggested its most significant legacy may be as a wildlife refuge amid rapid development, not a sport business.
“You can’t have outsized expectations, but you have to understand slow and steady growth is just as important as if you have some quick explosion of growth and then it goes away for whatever reason,” said Ty Votaw, PGA Tour chief marketing officer and vice president of the Int'l Golf Federation, during an interview in the Bridgestone hospitality tent off the 18th fairway.
Galleries were modest by major PGA Tour event standards, but they gradually grew over the course of the four-day tournament and the grandstands were packed to see Brit Justin Rose emerge as the Gold Medalist by breaking a tie with Swede Henrik Stenson on the final hole.
New worldwide Olympics sponsor Bridgestone saw some encouraging signs from local Brazilian fans, said Phil Pacsi, Bridgestone Americas VP, sports and events. Through mid-day Saturday, 1,000 people had gone through Bridgestone’s sponsorship showcase at the golf course, and “75 percent were Brazilians who never touched a club before.”
The on-venue Bridgestone showcase and hospitality tent are unusual by Olympics standards, which normally insist on “clean” venues. Pacsi credited the IOC for allowing the corporate activity to advance their common interest in building the sport. The equipment in the showcase will be turned over to the Brazilian Golf Confederation to develop a teaching academy at the course.
During a tour of the course, Brazilians were seemingly in good spirits at the activation, but with a familiar look among golfers: frustrated by the mini-golf and confused by the instructor’s directions in the driving cave.
