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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:55 am 
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http://www.golfdigest.com/story/how-the-olympic-mens-event-became-the-best-golf-tournament-so-far-of-2016?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=golf

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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:59 am 
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http://www.espn.com/olympics/summer/golf/story/_/id/17300856/great-britain-justin-rose-caps-magical-week-olympic-gold-golf

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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 12:35 pm 
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This is an open letter from a guy at NBC that was posted elsewhere, its fantastic.

*****************************************************************

To: Jordan Spieth
Cc: Jason Day; Rory McIlroy; Dustin Johnson; Adam Scott; Hideki Matsuyama
Bcc: Vijay Singh
Subject: Rio!
Hi guys, sorry for the bulk email. I just wanted to see if you had a chance to watch any of that Rafael Nadal-Juan Martin del Potro tennis match from here at the Olympics. It was pretty thrilling stuff. Those two guys blasted thunderclaps at each other for three crazy sets. Then the third set went into a tiebreaker. Each point was like a novella. The crowd was delirious, practically incoherent with joy. It was incredible.
Anyway I know tennis is not your sport but I was wondering if you happened to see Nadal in that tiebreaker. You know, Nadal is a pretty accomplished guy. Fourteen grand slam titles. Nine French Opens in ten years. Four-time Davis Cup champ.
And there he was in that tiebreaker, grinding with all his heart, playing with every ounce of emotion in his body, caring so deeply. Why? Because this is the Olympics.
I guess the point is, all due respect, you guys blew it.
Sure, I understand why you decided not to come to Rio to play golf. I get it. Golf is a weird fit for the Olympics. The Olympic Games really should be the Mount Olympus for sports, mean-ing it should be each sport’s most important event like it is for track and swimming and gymnas-tics and dozens of other sports. It can never be Olympus for men’s golf. No, men’s golf has the Masters and the U.S. Open and the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup and The Open and the PGA Championship and the World Golf Championships and The Players Championship — so many championships.
Olympic golf coverage: Articles, photos and videos
And yes, it’s true, golf wasn’t in the Olympics when you were kids, so you never dreamed about being here, never planned a spot in your life for the Olympic Games.
And, yes, there were concerns about Brazil, are concerns about Brazil, about Zika and crime and security and political upheaval and logistical breakdowns. I get it.
But you blew it, guys.
You blew it in two ways. One of those ways has been discussed at length but it remains true— you blew it for golf. It seems that in the countless warnings and cautions and bad omens leading into these Rio Games, you forgot something basic: Just how BIG the Olympics really are. Leave it to USA Boxing coach Billy Walsh, in his glorious Irish brogue, to explain: “There were, what, 40 million people around the world watching Pacquiao-Mayweather?” he asked. “We have 3.5 BILLION people watching the Olympics. Forget everything else. This is the biggest (bleeping) show on earth.”
The biggest (bleeping) show on earth, guys, and you had a chance to be a part of it. You had a chance to show new parts of the world just how wonderful your sport is. You had a chance to support women’s golf, to support amateur golf, to blow the mind of some kids who might never have seen this crazy game before.
Yes, you had a chance to give the sport you love, the sport that has given you dream lives, a boost, a big stage. I don’t like the phrase “grow the sport.” But everybody knows that golf is in a bit of a lull. Nike just pulled out of the equipment business. Participation stagnates. The Tiger hangover isn’t going away anytime soon. Nobody expects that the Olympics turns everything around. But it’s something new and fresh. It’s an opportunity.
“They don’t want to promote golf and they don’t realize how lucky they are,” an angry Gary Playertold reporters. “They don’t realize what the Olympic Games can mean for the sport.”
Thing is, I suspect you did realize it. You just decided to pass anyway. You’ve talked about it. Rory, you talked bluntly and with admirable honesty about your disinterest in growing the game. “I don’t feel like I’ve let the game down at all,” you said. “I didn’t get into golf to try and grow the game. I got into golf to win championships and win major championships.” I respect you being that honest. And I think it’s an astonishingly bad attitude about a sport which earns you tens of millions of dollars.
But forget what being here might have done for golf. I’m more interested in the second way you blew it — guys, you blew it for yourselves.
This was, literally, a once-in-a-lifetime chance for you. Yes, there will be other Olympics and at least one of them will have golf in it. But it will never again be the FIRST Olympics with golf. It will never be like it is here on Sunday, with a beautiful blue Brazilian sky and a miraculous little golf course carved out of nothing and a sellout crowd coming out to see a sport many of them have never seen before.
You will never play in a tournament that has the spirit of this one, where all the odds were stacked against it and yet it came off and people had the time of their lives.
You will never again see it like it was at the 18th when fans gave Brazilian golfer Adilson da Silva such an ovation that he broke down in tears.
Or how about that moment when Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson got to go hang out at the practice pool with the U.S. swimmers. As they left, the swimmers rang the bell. This is what they do whenever one of them heads out for a race.
Fowler and Watson did not know what was happening, so they turned around. And they saw and heard the U.S. swim team, the greatest swim team in the world, chanting “USA! USA!” for them.
“Words can’t really put it into perspective,” Fowler would say.
You think that happens at the Buick Championship?
Or how about a group of Brazilian fans following around Matt Kuchar just so they can shout “Koooch!” as he charges on Sunday.
Or how about coming down the stretch on a Sunday at the Olympics with what turned out to be a fantastic leaderboard — Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar shooting it out for themselves, for their countries, for a little piece of history.
This isn’t just a golf tournament. This is different. You play golf, sure, but then you go watch some of the best athletes in the world — and they’re all incredible. The athleticism you see at team volleyball or rowing, it’s overwhelming. You walk around with synchronized swimmers and team handball players and shooters and archers and judokas and gymnasts, and they all speak different languages, and they all look so different. And you’re connected to them. You’re all Olympians.
You missed it. Hey that’s not to say that it’s perfect here — it isn’t. Rio is a sprawling and complicated place and while there is so much spirit here, there is anger too, there is poverty, there are inconveniences, issues, mosquitoes, risks. Just like everywhere. You guys don’t live in a bubble. This is a big and tangled world. You don’t let these things keep you from living.
In the end, I don’t know if golf belongs in the Olympics. But that’s not the point — golf IS in the Olympics, and you guys had a chance to be here at the start, to be part of this bold experiment for the game you grew up playing. And you decided to stay away. You had a chance, Rory, to win Ireland’s first gold medal at these Games and only the second gold medal in the last 20 years. You had a chance, Jason and Adam, to be part of the Australian Olympic team, which is like one giant party train moving through Rio.
You had a chance, Jordan, to be part of the happiest week in golf. And that’s what it is here: Happy. It isn’t like any other golf event on earth. Nobody is saying it is as important as a major championship or the Ryder Cup or any other big money tournament. It isn’t as important.
But that was never the point. Why does it have to be like a major? When Rafael Nadal was playing Juan Martin del Potro in that third-set tiebreaker, with a shot at a gold medal on the line, he wasn’t thinking: “Yes, I will try, but this isn’t as important as Wimbledon.” He wasn’t think-ing, “I would sure like to win, but I do not feel the same emotions I would feel in New York at the U.S. Open.”
No, he pushed to the same level of extreme, and he got lost in the moment, and he was utterly heartbroken when he lost, because these are the Olympics. True, it’s not a 100-meter race against Usain Bolt. It’s not the 200-meter butterfly against Michael Phelps. It’s not a balance-beam duel with Simone Biles. But it is the Olympics. The biggest (bleeping) show on earth. I’m sorry you missed it.

********************************************************************************



You will never play in a tournament that has the spirit of this one, where all the odds were stacked against it and yet it came off and people had the time of their lives.
You will never again see it like it was at the 18th when fans gave Brazilian golfer Adilson da Silva such an ovation that he broke down in tears.
Or how about that moment when Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson got to go hang out at the practice pool with the U.S. swimmers. As they left, the swimmers rang the bell. This is what they do whenever one of them heads out for a race.
Fowler and Watson did not know what was happening, so they turned around. And they saw and heard the U.S. swim team, the greatest swim team in the world, chanting “USA! USA!” for them.
“Words can’t really put it into perspective,” Fowler would say.
You think that happens at the Buick Championship?


That's my favorite part of the letter. Couldn't agree more.

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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 1:15 pm 
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The Buick Championship is an LPGA event, so I'm guessing that Spieth, DJ, and Rory don't know what happens there.

Bubba Watson is a simpleton and a complete lunatic. I wouldn't use him as a baseline for anything. Worries about crime and the Zika virus are legitimate.

What a stupid letter.

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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 1:44 pm 
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Chus wrote:
The Buick Championship is an LPGA event, so I'm guessing that Spieth, DJ, and Rory don't know what happens there.

Bubba Watson is a simpleton and a complete lunatic. I wouldn't use him as a baseline for anything. Worries about crime and the Zika virus are legitimate.

What a stupid letter.



You're a stupid letter.

There are now cases of Zika in Michigan and Canada. Guess the PGA won't be going back to Canada next year.

Oh shit, I just read there is crime in Atlanta! Better call off all events at Eastlake!

Also, just read somewhere that Zika actually can infect other athletes besides male golfers. Better tell everyone else in the Olympics cause apparently they didn't know that.

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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 8:37 pm 
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shakes wrote:
You're a stupid letter.


Hard to argue.

shakes wrote:
There are now cases of Zika in Michigan and Canada. Guess the PGA won't be going back to Canada next year.


Michigan = 4 cases
Canada = 209 cases (205 from traveling)
Brazil = widespread epidemic

I'm pretty sure the mosquitoes in Michigan and Canada won't survive the winter. There hasn't been a PGA event in Michigan since 2008, and most of the big guns skip the Canadian Open.

shakes wrote:
Oh shit, I just read there is crime in Atlanta! Better call off all events at Eastlake!


Olympic athletes were just robbed at gunpoint. I think Dustin Johnson can get from Eastlake to his hotel incident free.

They are playing for $10 million at East Lake. At the Olympics, they are trying to help NBC's ratings, and hoping not to get robbed or catch the Zika virus.



shakes wrote:
Also, just read somewhere that Zika actually can infect other athletes besides male golfers. Better tell everyone else in the Olympics cause apparently they didn't know that.


When you play a sport that nobody cares about except for two weeks every four years, of course you look forward to the Olympics. These guys just played three majors in two months, and have the FedEx Playoffs and the Ryder Cup on deck, why in the world would they want to fly halfway around the world to stay in rooms with third world amenities, and to watch the swim team practice? The races are boring, I can just imagine how electric practice is.

How can you blame them for wanting to rest? Why are you trying to tell them how to feel, as if you were Julie Dicaro?

The Olympics are supposed to be an amateur competition. The Dream Team in '92 ruined the Olympics. The Olympics suck, and so does anybody whining about the pros skipping them.

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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 7:47 am 
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shakes wrote:
T-Bone wrote:
Missed the entire thing as I had to work the entire weekend. I've read generally good things about the event but I just
don't see it sticking around much past Tokyo as an Olympic event. It will become a trivia question when we are retired.



Pretty ignorant statement considering you didn't watch a single minute of it.

For those of us that like to give informed opinions, let me say that the event was amazing, better than anything anyone could've expected. The players, to a man, said it was the greatest experience of their lives. Sergio said anyone who doesn't think golf belongs in the Olympics is on drugs and that going there was the best decision of his entire life. Hearing Kuchar say that winning the bronze is the most proud he's ever been of anything he's ever accomplished in golf made my eyes well up. I guarantee every single person who skipped it is kicking themselves right now and will regret it for the rest of their lives.

It was great hearing the announcers talk about how the event has come to mean more for the players once they got down there and realized how golf fits into the landscape of world sport and how they were part of something bigger than just the PGA tour. And how the pressure to win and do well is greater (or different) than anything they've experienced before.

Loved seeing all the different outfits the countries were wearing each day. Great Britain had the best shirts, loved the use of the crest. But, ARgentina had the sharpest Sunday outfit. Loved seeing all the different golf bags, Sweden's was sick. Didn't understand why USA wore the same shirt on Day 2 and day 4??? Too cheap to bring 4 shirts??? Every other country had 4 different outfits. Seemed really odd even though I do own the shirt and like it.

Worst piece of fashion? The Spain baseball hat. It was so cheap looking that Sergio decided he'd rather risk sun stroke all weekend than get caught dead in one.

Back to the event, before it started I moaned about he format and wanted a team event component, but after seeing it I wouldn't change a thing. I like that there is only 1 gold medal out there for golf, makes it that much more special.


Tbone, you said you read generally good things about it today, but I challenge you to find anything negative that was written about it today. Everythign I've seen and heard is absolutely glowing in its praise.

I respect your golf opinion, but I'll side with hank Haney on this one who said today that this will only get bigger and bigger and will eventually be massive.

Looking forward to the women now, all the best ones are gonna be there.


I caught about an hour of it over the weekend but that is not enough to form a complete opinion about whether it was a quality event or not. I am not rooting for golf to fail
as an event, I am saying I don't think it belongs in the Olympics and my prediction is that it will not stick around for more than 3 Olympics. If that is an ignorant statement then
so be it I guess. I stated my reasons for why I thought it would not stick around permanently in the Olympic rotation. I've been wrong before and will be again but we won't know
about this guess of mine for another ten years. I'm happy for you that you are getting so much enjoyment out of driving the Olympic Golf bandwagon.

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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 10:49 am 
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Olympics on TV had the second highest ratings this year of any golf event besides the Masters.

Head of the IOC was at the event on SUnday.

They vote pretty soon as to whether to make golf a permanent part of the Olympics. I'd bet just about anything Scorehead owns that they will take about 5 seconds to vote in favor of olympic golf.

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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 12:25 pm 
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shakes wrote:
Olympics on TV had the second highest ratings this year of any golf event besides the Masters.

Head of the IOC was at the event on SUnday.

They vote pretty soon as to whether to make golf a permanent part of the Olympics. I'd bet just about anything Scorehead owns that they will take about 5 seconds to vote in favor of olympic golf.


Citing relative one day tv ratings and the appearance of the Olympics' CEO is the firm stamp of legitimacy, quality and suggestion of long term success. Just ask the investors of the USFL, XFL, WBL, WNBA or the World Baseball Classic. :roll:

Good call Don Ohlmeyer, Jr.!

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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 12:51 pm 
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shakes wrote:
Olympics on TV had the second highest ratings this year of any golf event besides the Masters.

Head of the IOC was at the event on SUnday.

They vote pretty soon as to whether to make golf a permanent part of the Olympics. I'd bet just about anything Scorehead owns that they will take about 5 seconds to vote in favor of olympic golf.


Yup, the vote happens September 2017 to see if it will be a part of the 2024 Olympics. Right around the corner. I will say that it should be easier to include golf
based on the fact that most countries that host will have a golf facility already built to handle the event. This event was pretty extraordinary for the fact that they
had to build a course for it.

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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 2:18 pm 
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the cities in contention for 2024 are Budapest, Paris, Rome and Los Angeles.


Not sure about the golfing options around Budapest, but Paris, Rome and LA obviously won't be a problem.


I wonder where they would have it if it was in LA? Riviera? Part of me thinks they will try to have it at courses the PGA doesn't use in order to stand out better, but I'm not sure what other options are in LA other than PGA courses.

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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 6:57 am 
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shakes wrote:
the cities in contention for 2024 are Budapest, Paris, Rome and Los Angeles.


Not sure about the golfing options around Budapest, but Paris, Rome and LA obviously won't be a problem.


I wonder where they would have it if it was in LA? Riviera? Part of me thinks they will try to have it at courses the PGA doesn't use in order to stand out better, but I'm not sure what other options are in LA other than PGA courses.


It's possible they could use a private course as I am sure there are a number in L.A. but Riviera makes sense and they are well versed in how to hold a big event.

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 Post subject: Re: 2016 Olympic Golf
PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 7:03 am 
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Olympic golf was on two channels on Sunday. Golf Channel and NBC proper.

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