Sorry Tiger Woods, but Golf in the Olympics Is a Stupid Idea
Tiger Woods is a smart guy. He's the only professional golfer I've ever heard effortlessly deploy the word "caveat." But he's now thrown his weight behind a fairly stupid idea: golf as an Olympic sport.
According to USA Today, Woods is "supporting the International Golf Federation's (IGF) bid to be included in the 2016 Summer Olympics." Evidently, Tiger, along with several other international players, has written the International Olympic Committee. Woods has also sent a "32-page brochure" to the IOC. So, in addition to being a global sports superstar with millions and millions in the bank, Tiger is also mailing out, um, brochures. It gives you pause. I don't remember "mailing out brochures to IOC" being on the now-famous list of Woodsian daily activities, which were recited in frightening detail on the Golf Channel's "The Haney Project: Charles Barkley."
Woods' timing is impeccable. By 2016, he'll be 40. He should have broken Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 professional majors by then. And what better way to celebrate that by winning a gold medal, something that Nicklaus can't really do? Jack should really enjoy that double-whammy.
The Olympics has gotten completely out of hand. Every few years, it seems, we hear about some new sport trying to cram itself into the two-week celebration of international brotherhood, as channeled through kayaking, gymnastics, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Golf has come up before, mainly because tennis has gotten in, and the two sports are sort of joined in the public consciousness. But in the past, the professional golfers who would seem to be the main force behind any drive to Olympify the game have expressed a lack of interest.
Some of this may stem from simple humility and a sense that a sport like golf just doesn't quite fit. Furthermore, the golf schedule is already crowded. Finally, a proposal like this does raise the queasy-making question of how the competition would be handled. The United States, South Africa, Australia, and a few other countries could send solid teams, assuming they're made up of touring pros (you don't think Tiger's pitching an inclusion of golf as an amateur sport, now do you?). But what about the rest of the world? At least with tennis, the talent is spread around the globe.
Then there's the redundancy factor. We already have the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup for international team competition in golf. In recent years, the Ryder Cup has really come on as a major sports spectacle. Including golf in the Olympics would either dilute that, or fail to offer quite the same appealing flavor.
And let's not forget the time factor. Golf isn't like track and field. It stretches on and on. The professionals who would make up the teams all play at a glacial pace. If it's set up as a match-play tournament, there's always the chance that the marquee draws will get knocked out too early, thereby spoiling the allure for TV. How would the broadcast integrate it? By showing Woods hitting a few shots, then cutting away for more pole vaulting?
I don't even want to think about the team uniforms.
Arguably, what the Olympics needs is fewer sports, not more. As we insist on adding competitions that let the pros in to a greater and greater extent, the chance to see more offbeat yet potentially thrilling contests evaporates. Badminton finally broke through last year. And how about fencing? Can I please get some more fencing?
So could we ask Tiger to shelve this one? True, the viewers might want to see him win gold, and we all know that the broadcasters would love it. But is this something that as a sporting culture we really need?
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It would be a good idea to face the fact the the idea & ideals of the "Modern" Olympics is a bad idea. A dictator like Hitler made the 1936 Olympics in a would be racist festival. Jessee Owens spoiled that. What happened with the Moscow Olympics, the Munich Olympics? Montreal(sp?) spent years paying off the facilities for their Olympics. The Mexico City games had a high light of American athletes on the award platform with up held clenched fists. What about female athletes after WW II from Communist nations. We have drugging scandals for both sexes, rigged judging more recently. The ugly facts of the constantly tainted "Modern" Olympics make an ugly mockery of the alleged Olympic ideal. The "Modern" Olympics were a bad idea from their inception & things have rapidly gotten worse since them. How about the recent games in China?
The Olympics need to be abandoned & forgotten. The "Modern" Olympics have always been a farce.
Thanks for that larry - You and I are probably the only 2 people in the world that find the Modern Olympics devoid of real value. I would argue that there exists no organization more arrogant and condescending than the International Olympic Committee and yet, for some strange reason, it holds sway over a huge array of countries and governments. They have been fooled into believing there is some sort of economic up-side to hosting the Olympics; however, you rightly point out that they are usually a liability on a city's balance sheets long after the "games" are gone.
With most Americans relegating themselves to obesity and arm-chair athletics, one would imagine watching real athletes would at least inspire "average joe" to get off his butt. Yet, the answer to this is elevating GOLF to an Olympic sport????????????????
Hey, if the man wants to add the gold to his collection of hardwares, then let him convey his thoughts of joining the Olympics however way he wants. His thoughts; IOC's decision!
The decision on the proposed nature of the Olympic golf tournaments has already been made. What is suggested is men's and women's 72 hole strokeplay tournaments with a field of 60 players in each. The top 15 in the world rankings will play, plus a maximum of two players per country for players outside the top 15. I read an analysis recently that based on the rankings of two or three weeks ago the rearguard in the men's field would be a man in the 390s in the rankings and his female counterpart would be ranked 550 something. Now I agree with almost everyone else that I have spoken to or read that a team competition would be the least bad option, but what I'm telling you is what they have put forward, and so far as 2016 is concerned it is now the only option.
No golf but long ball competition would be great, its a fast up and coming extreme sport, its pretty cool watching somebody hit a golf ball 400 yards plus it compares to baseballs home run derby. The best part it only takes a couple minutes compared to a 4 hour golf game.
When the Olympics were a gathering of the world's best amateur athletes it was worth watching. I stopped watching the minute they started opening it up to professionals.
Amateur golf, sure. Professional, not so much...
You may have turned it off, but millions more turned it on.
If golf were an event at the Olympics, the Games would be over before the palyers finished their preliminary rounds!
If they permit golf, then I must absolutely insist that Racquetball be included too.
I think golf would be an excellent sport to add to the Olympics....excellent idea Tiger. If there's a place for Baseball, Basketball, Football/soccer, if there's time for cross country skying there's room for Golf.
Golf is not a sport. It is a pass time more in the same category as playing Bridge or playing Pool. The fact that so much time, energy & money is devoted to the Olympics is ridiculous. Consider all the "important" ancillary baloney generated by the Olympics:
1) The construction of poorly (post Olympic) utilized athletic facilities and years of public debt
2) The whole "anti-doping" industry that has become a multi-million dollar distraction from far more important things
3) The millions of hours of lost productivity at companies that allow "Olympic-level" athletes to take time off to train for competition
The Olympics is just a world-wide version of what goes on in American High Schools: an elite, coddled class of jocks that consume time, energy and resources at the expense of everyone else.
Golf? Proof that the Olympics is well past its expiration date.
"Golf is not a sport. It is a pass time more in the same category as playing Bridge or playing Pool."
Qutie possibly the dumbest thing ever posted in Huffpost. And that's saying quite a lot.
Every time I ride my bicycle past the 3 golf courses near my home (huge expanses of over-fertilized, contrived, ridiculously expensive property) and look at all the fat "athletes" playing with their clubs, I wonder how many Chiropractors and Acupuncturists are getting rich out of the aches and pains of such a rigorous sport......and how much Ibuprofen is consumed by golfers whose life mission it is to get into shape through the Zen of Golf. Right.....I'm dumb?
Golf was included in the olympics over a hundred years ago, why not re-introduce it. I would also make it a team event. Similar to the team world golf championships. The talent pool for golf is also far more internationally diverse than this article suggests. Vijay Singh, Adam Scott, Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Angel Cabrera, Mike Weir, Ernie Els, Justin Rose, oh and Tiger Woods, to name only a few, all come from different countries. Women's softball is dominated by a very select few, mostly the Americans and in the Winter Olympics Hockey is much the same. I think golf offers a very diverse crowd
Having said that. I would prefer an amateur setting for Olympic golf. We've got tonnes of talented amateurs from all over the world, most of them in their late teens and early 20s who would be much more fun to watch.
Totally disagree. International team golf is very exciting. The Ryder Cup is a great sporting event. The only problem is that there are only a handful of countries that could field competitive teams.
'The United States, South Africa, Australia, and a few other countries could send solid teams, assuming they're made up of touring pros (you don't think Tiger's pitching an inclusion of golf as an amateur sport, now do you?). But what about the rest of the world? At least with tennis, the talent is spread around the globe.'
Have you been following womens golf ?
It is stupid....But no dumber then Tennis, Equestrian, Sailing, and Synchonized Swimming. And they're olympic sports.
Just what I was about to post. You saved me the trouble.
Why do you think Tennis is dumb to be in the Olympics? I know that they have Daviscup, which is like the Olympics for tennis. I thknk that Daviscup should be out. And I think that tennis should be in the Olympics - and no pros pls, ever!!!
Spoken like a yuppie !
They looked at golf for the Beijing Olympics. They even built a NIck Faldo course just off the Olympic Green for it since it needed to be done five years early. Greg Norman was pushing for golf to be in the Olympics then.
A four day tournament of 72 golfers limited to no more than say, 5 from each country based on world rankings would be great. There are currently 21 countries represented in the Top 100 in world rankings - Thailand, Taiwan, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, UK, Australia, UK, Ireland, Fiji, Sweden, Columbia, South Africa, Argentina, Germany, Korea, Japan, India, Denmark, Canada and of course the USA. Golf is such an international sport that the Olympics is a natural. And, of course, there is no pay to play, so those who show up are there because they want to try to win a medal. A bit refreshing for golf.
It would be a great event, and great for TV - which of course is how the Olympics can afford to put on most of the "traditional" sports.
Tiger probably qualifies to compete for Thailand because his mother is Thai. That would be a hoot.
I have to agree with the comments.
An obvious problem regarding golf joining the Olympics is that is not uniformly considered a sport compared to other of the prospective Olympic sports. For example, rugby and baseball involve more physical activity than golf. If anything, golf is considered to be as much as a sport as bullfighting.
Also, I dread the adding of another "non-crowd" sport to the Olympics. We have plenty of non-enthusiastic sports in the games as it is.
In any case, are we supposed to encourage the construction of even more golf facilities around the world? If anything, Woods and the golfing organizations should be more concerned with the decreasing interest in golfing in the US. I have been reading many reports of golf courses reporting difficulties remaining in business due to low attendance.
Personally, I love golf. I play whenever I can and watch occasionally - the majors of course. I wouldn't vote to put it into the Olympics.
But, is it less of a sport than archery? What about skeet shooting? Or luge? Or darts (which they are also trying to get in)?
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