Forget soccer – Rio got golf! (AP/Silvia Izquierdo)
Peter Dawson and Ty Votaw accomplished what Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama and his wife Michelle couldn’t.
The Obamas failed to convince the International Olympic Committee that Chicago was the best city to host the 2016 Games, but Dawson, who runs the R&A, and Votaw, a PGA Tour executive, were able to persuade the IOC to add golf to the program for Rio de Janeiro.
Golf was approved Friday by a vote of IOC members in Copenhagen, 63-27 with two abstentions. Also added to the Olympic program for 2016 was rugby sevens, by an 81-8 vote.
“This is a very significant day for golf,” Dawson said in a press release issued by the R&A.
“In addition to those golfers who will have an opportunity to compete as Olympic athletes, we are excited for the national golf federations that will reap the benefits from today’s decision in terms of growth and support within their countries,” Dawson said.
The proposed competitive format for golf is 72-hole stroke play tournaments for men and women, with the 60-player fields determined by the Official World Golf Rankings. The top-15 world-ranked players would be eligible for the Olympics, regardless of the number of players from a given country. Beyond the top-15, players would be eligible based on the world rankings, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top-15.
Using the OWGR to determine eligibility assures that traditional golf powerhouses such as the United States, Great Britain, Ireland and South Africa will be well represented in Rio, as will up-and-comers such as Korea. If the Games were held today, 30 countries would be represented in both the men’s and women’s competitions. The field for the 2024 Games will be much more diverse, however, if interest in golf spreads as widely and wildly as its Olympic proponents predict.
Aside from creating new markets for equipment companies, golf’s Olympic status won’t have much effect on the game in the United States. It already has the world’s most developed golf economy. America will, however, find itself with many more competitors, inside the ropes and for the traveling golf consumer’s dollar.
Consider, too, some of the other implications of Friday’s vote:
• The Olympic victory is a feather Votaw’s cap and surely will strengthen his candidacy as successor to PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, who is expected to retire within the next four years, likely after the Tour cements new TV contracts in 2012. Votaw is the Tour’s executive vice president of communications and international affairs, as well as former commissioner of the LPGA.
• Dawson’s stature and influence also has been greatly enhanced. The R&A, based in St. Andrews, Scotland, is the worldwide administrator for golf (except in the United States and Mexico, which are governed by the U.S. Golf Association). The R&A already is positioned to play a significant role in assisting nations with little or no background in golf to create developmental programs for the sport.
• Look for the popularity of golf to explode in China and to a lesser extent in India and Brazil. Just as it has done with other Olympic sports, notably tennis, the Chinese government figures to invest millions of yuan in golf development programs, in hopes of nurturing the next Tiger Woods from a population of 1.3 billion. Its first move likely will be the establishment of the China Golf Association as a stand-alone organization to focus on grass-roots developmental efforts. The CGA currently is part of the Multi-Ball Games Administrative Center of State Sports, which oversees more than a dozen sports. As such, the CGA has been woefully understaffed and under-funded.
India, the world’s second most populous nation, has a 180-year-old golf tradition thanks to its history as a British colony, but one that until recently limited participation to the moneyed classes. The biggest hurdle for golf development in India is the acquisition of land for golf courses. Most of its golf facilities are owned and operated by the military, with little or no public access. Governmental intervention might change that.
Golf in Brazil, meanwhile, is embryonic. Look for a rush of course development in that nation, with the crown jewel being the Olympic venue in Rio. With a population of 190 million, South America’s economic leader is ripe for a golf boom.
• Cuba figures to be another beneficiary of Olympic golf. The island is a giant golf resort waiting to happen. (Only two courses exist in Cuba at present.) If the Obama administration eases travel restrictions to Cuba as expected, watch the golf floodgates open.
• Depending upon how deep into the southern hemisphere spring the 2016 Games are scheduled, the competition calendar for 2016 may be altered significantly. The Olympics could bump up against the Ryder Cup and/or the FedEx Cup playoffs, with the trickle down effect of rescheduling not only those events, but also the PGA Championship, British Open and U.S. Open. As part of a united front to sell golf to the IOC, the game’s pro tours and ruling bodies already have agreed to adjust tournament dates to accommodate the Olympics.
• The Official World Golf Rankings can expect to come under more scrutiny. The OWGR already is used as part of the formulas to determine fields for the majors and the World Golf Championships. With the addition of the Olympics, suddenly there will be many more parties curious about how the system works. It can’t be perceived as biased or inequitable.
• As part of its bid to gain the Olympic stamp of approval, golf already has begun to implement drug-testing. Its policies and procedures, however, aren't as stringent as Olympic anti-doping measures. When golf raises the testing bar, as it must to comply with Olympic rules, don't be surprised to see a few players make headlines with which the game is unaccustomed.
FINCHEM'S THOUGHTS: Click here to see a video of PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem's press conference to discuss golf's successful Olympic bid.
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