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Friday, August 12, 2016

Maybe It's a Good Thing all the "Name Brand" Golfers Dropped Out of the Olympics

Credit: Miriam Jeske/Brasil2016.gov.br/CC 3.0
Let's be honest here, men's golf has been sort of a punching bag at the Rio Olympics. Only 4 of the current World Top 10 are in attendance, with the top 4 all skipping this week. It's not a good look for golf, and it doesn't bode particularly well for golf's future in the Olympics. That brings up a fair question, why should golf be in the Olympics if the best golfers can't be bothered to show up? They can bring up Zika all they want, but I doubt that's the only reason people skipped out. They just weren't that interested, and you know what? I get it. From the point of view of an elite golfer who has won one of golf's actual majors and makes millions from commercial endorsements, a gold medal really doesn't mean too much. Zika was just a convenient excuse.

So, how is all that a good thing for Olympic golf? How is it a good thing that the best golfers in the world right now are not in attendance? It's a good thing because it forces us to look at this from a different perspective. We've been looking at Olympic golf as a counterpart to the 4 majors, treating it as if it was another major. But I think that's the wrong way to look at it. Golf is a truly worldwide sport, played in many countries, but how often do you actually hear about golfers from most of them? Golf on the major level is dominated by the U.S, the U.K, South Africa, and Australia. Of the 68 majors played from 2000 on, only 12 were won by someone not from those four countries. If we throw in other former British possessions (New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, and Fiji, strangely enough. Did not know that), we're left with Angel Cabrera of Argentina, winner of 2 majors, Y.E Yang of South Korea, winner of the 2009 PGA, and Martin Kaymer of Germany, who also won 2 majors. If we go back to 1990, we can add Spain and Jose Maria Olazabal (Zimbabwe is a former British possession, for you Nick Price fans).

I may have gotten off track with that little history lesson. Let me get back to my main point here. Golf has traditionally been dominated by a few golfers from a few different countries. Those top 4 golfers who skipped out this week? We've got an Australian, two Americans, and a Brit (Northern Ireland is still part of the U.K, last time I checked). That, and the near complete abandonment of the the Olympics by Australia and South Africa means that the traditional golf powerhouses are going into this week with their second stringers. As I write this, an Australian is on top of the leaderboard, but we've got a Swede (Henrik Stenson, world number 5 and 2016 British Open winner), a Belgian, a Frenchman, a German, a second Swede, and a Taiwanese man in the top 10. These are people who are proud (presumably) to play for the country, and as people who for the most part haven't experience the glory of winning a major and probably never will, this represents a golden opportunity. Without the "best" players in the world, this tournament is wide open, and could be won by any number of people from any number of countries.

That is what I think Olympic golf should be, not a major, not a gathering of the best players in the world, but a gathering of nations, a tournament where anyone could win, and countries with a bit less golf saturation have a real chance to bring home a medal. I think that if one of the "big 3" (or 4) (or 5) (or whatever) won this thing, it would have made Olympic golf feel less prestigious, not more. The gold medal would just be another bauble to add to the trophy collection. I think there's a significant group of people who thought that the field this week should have been made up of amateurs instead of professionals, people for whom a gold medal would represent a pinnacle of achievement. I should know, I'm one of them. In a strange way, by not attending, golf's current elite have achieved a similar effect. And that is why I'm sort of glad the "good" players chickened out of the Olympics.

Note: None of this applies to the women's side of the Olympics, since not even the best women golfers get the respect they deserve for their achievements. People have trouble caring about women's majors, but a gold medal is universal. Win a dozen women's majors, get a footnote, win a gold medal, get glory. It's not fair, but that's how the world works.

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