Rio de Janeiro's Olympic golf course "took three years to build as the project was slowed down by environmental lawsuits, Brazilian bureaucracy and stop-and-start funding by a billionaire real estate developer," according to Stephen Wade of the AP. Four months after golf's "surprising popularity at the Olympics," an even larger test remains in deciding "what to do with an acclaimed course in a country where few play the game, and in a city that can't pay to maintain it." Brazilian Golf Confederation President Paulo Pacheco said, "You know that it's not going to be easy. It's challenging. It's not easy to do. It's very hard. I think it's the only opportunity we have to improve golf in Brazil." Everything feels "unfinished" around the course, except the course itself, which "threatens to become a white elephant." Billed as the first public championship-level course in the country, the layout is "hidden" behind several luxury apartment towers known as "Riserva Golf," which will not be completed until '18. Cinderblock walls and fencing obstruct the view from the street, and no signs mark the entrance to the course in the western Rio suburb of Barra da Tijuca. Once through the "rutted" parking lot and inside the clubhouse, there is no pro shop, few furnishings, no local club professional and no restaurant. And "few players." Brazil has about 20,000 players -- compared to 25 million in the U.S. -- and "the game is played almost exclusively by the wealthy." Another problem involves determining "who will pay to keep the course running." Outgoing Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said that "the city can't pay." Pacheco, who has been managing the course, was "vague in explaining how it will stay afloat." He said that he "would be leaving the job in a few weeks, and that negotiations were taking place with a new management company that could take over" Jan. 1 (AP, 12/19).
