Golf in the Olympics?
About this time tomorrow morning, the International Olympic Committee will decide which two sports will be presented for inclusion on the Olympic program.
The newbies will join the fun in 2016.
The leading contenders: rugby and golf.
While rugby isn’t wildly popular in the United States, I could support its inclusion. It’s a sport that has broad appeal around the world. It’s played in many countries, and frankly, it’d be a lot of fun to watch.
I think about rugby as the Summer Olympics version of curling — as Americans, we may not know much about it, but every four years, we will become fascinated by it.
Golf, unlike rugby, is a sport that Americans like, but putting it in the Olympics is a horrible idea.
The Olympics are meant to be the pinnacle of the sports that are there. That simply wouldn’t be the case with golf. Winning a major on the PGA Tour would still be a bigger deal than winning a medal at the Olympics.
The reason?
Those majors are the best of the best from around the world.
If the majors only allowed Americans to compete or only allowed golfers from the Western Hemisphere to compete, then having golf at the Olympics would be a fantastic idea. Bring together the greatest from around the world. Put them on the same course. See who is really the best.
But that’s what the PGA Tour does pretty much every week.
Tiger Woods has said he would play in the Olympics. That’s great. That’s fine. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Olympics would not be the pinnacle of his sport. The same goes for tennis and every other individual sport that has an inclusion professional league that allows the world’s best to compete against each other regularly.
The International Olympic Committee needs to add two sports that would see their inclusion in the Olympics as the pinnacle, not just another date on the calendar.
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