Players' opinions differ on golf's return to Olympics

Golf returns to the Olym­pic Games this summer after a 112-year hiatus. It is either the most or least important development in the game, depending on which likely competitor you talk to.

Finding consensus on the value of a gold medal is harder than finding consensus in politics.

Adam Scott: “It’s a fun exhibition,” said the 2013 Mas­ters champion and lock to be one of the top two Aus­tra­li­ans to qualify. Winning an Olympic medal “is nothing I have ever dreamed of having and it really doesn’t have any significance for golf.”

Jordan Spieth: “Winning a gold medal has got to be up there now, in my mind, with winning a major championship,” the reigning Masters champion said.

Rory McIlroy: “I’d definitely wait four years for another chance at the Olympics if I could win the Masters this year,” said the man who sits a green jacket shy of a career Grand Slam.

Bubba Watson: “I would say it (a gold medal) would be a little bit bigger than a green jacket,” said the two-time Masters winner. “It’s more rare. The game of golf hasn’t seen it in years. And I get to keep that gold medal for life. I don’t have to give it back after a year.”

Henrik Stenson: “I’ll take a bronze medal over third at Augusta,” said the No. 6 player in the world. “Winning, then, that one might be juggling chain saws.”

Golf’s Olympics restoration in Rio de Janeiro has been a hotly debated subject since the beginning, from the limited field format to the contested construction of the course to the relevance.

THE GENERAL PRO-OLYMPIC argument is that getting golf into the games will release money toward Olympic team development in countries that previously never considered golf a priority. As a grow-the-game initiative, having golf in the most widely televised sporting event in the world can’t hurt.

“We believe our game’s visibility will be dramatically elevated by the global platform that only the Olym­pics offer,” said Masters Chair­man Billy Payne, who came close to getting golf at Augusta National included as an exhibition sport in the 1996 Olympics when he headed Atlanta’s bid. “New audiences from all over the world, some for the very first time ever, will be exposed to our great sport and come to know and appreciate the amazing athletes and heroes in golf. From this greater visibility, we believe will evolve greater participation in our game, and it will be a certain beneficiary.”

Sixty players will tee it up in Rio in August for a 72-hole stroke play event. A maximum of four players from any one nation can make the team, and only if all four are ranked among the top 15 in the world. Otherwise, only two players from any nation can be included.

THE OBJECTION TO golf’s inclusion is that unlike with track and field, swimming or wrestling, the Olympics have never been the “pinnacle” achievement in the sport. The major championships – whether amateur or professional – have always been the focal point for defining a player’s legacy. The greatest players in history – Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Gene Sara­zen, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nick­laus, Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman and Nick Faldo – never had a chance to compete in the Olympics.

Yet playing for one’s country is a lure that is attractive to most, whether or not it is considered a “fifth major.”

“To compete there and have a chance to win a medal would be very special,” Stenson said. “I think it’s going to be very special for the player who wins the gold medal to be the first to win since golf came back into the Olympics. It’s something you’ll be remembered for for the rest of your life.”

“I’ll take a major,” said Rickie Fowler, the reigning Players champion and No. 5 golfer in the world. “I can’t really say it would be a dream come true, just because golf hasn’t been in the Olympics for so long. It’s so different. To me, a major is going to be a major. It’s always a major. That’s the No. 1 on my priority and goals list right now.

“But to just have the chance to play in the Olym­pics would be pretty special. It’s something that I’ve always watched the Olympic Games growing up and thought about how cool it would be to walk in the opening ceremonies, the closing ceremonies and seeing everyone compete. But it was kind of unrealistic being that golf wasn’t a part of it.”

GOLF HAS PROMISED to send its best players, and the world’s top-ranked stars understand that.

“This is the first time golf has been in the Olympics for a long time, and if the best players aren’t there, supporting the event and competing in it, then what’s the point?” said McIlroy, who said he will play for Ireland instead of Great Britain. “I feel like I have a responsibility to grow the game, as part of a group of players who can spread this game throughout the world.”

The Olympics taking place in August forced the PGA Cham­pionship to move up into July and condensed the already crowded summer and fall schedule.

“I’ve been pretty open and outspoken that it’s not really a priority of my scheduling, which is based around the majors,” Scott said. “If the Olympics fits in, then it does. The gap in the schedule there … some time off looks quite good actually. It is absolutely a possibility I won’t go as it is not a priority in my schedule.

“I’m not really sure how just having another golf tournament is really going to enhance the game or grow the game any more than any other tournament just because it’s the Olympics.”

WORLD NO. 1 Jason Day, also from Australia, is skeptical as well but said he would compete if he qualified.

“I think it’s obviously special, we need it in the Olym­pics,” Day said. “I’m looking forward to going down there, but if there was one thing that I would like to do, it’s change it to a team format. I think that would be really special to do that. … It makes it hard for our schedule, but I’m willing to make that sacrifice and go down there with all the other players that are excited about it.”

The world’s governing bodies have given golf in the Olym­pics their full support. On Monday, officials from the Masters, USGA, R&A, PGA and LPGA announced that they would each extend an automatic invitation to their majors in 2017 to the winner of the gold medal.

In the long run, golf’s leaders believe any initial skepticism will be replaced by enthusiasm once golf re-establishes itself as an Olympic staple.

“My experience has been when looking at the joy and the happiness of kids competing all across the board in various Olympic endeavors, that there is nothing, nothing, more powerful than representing your country,” Payne said. “And so I suspect that you will see that take over and totally capture the enthusiasm of the players for golf. So I think what you feel now, and what you hear now, as some of these individuals themselves become part of the Olympics, probably change their mind.”