Golf's global reach should extend to Olympic Games
By Stan Awtrey, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
On Friday morning, the International Olympic Committee will announce to the world whether golf will become an official Olympic sport in 2016. There's no reason to believe it won't be approved, and it didn't hurt matters when Tiger Woods, the world's most famous athlete, came out with his personal support.
Some of the Olympic decision-makers have wondered aloud whether making golf an official sport would elevate the status of a gold medal to equal or surpass that of the Claret Jug or the Green Jacket handed out in Augusta. They don't need to wonder about that: it won't. Making tennis an Olympic sports didn't lessen the importance of Wimbledon or the U.S. Open, so don't expect a paradigm shift in golf, either.
Olympic officials would be short-sighted to base their decision on such criteria. They need to look deeper and think about how golf's inclusion in the Olympic Games would help the sport on an international level. Last year, when Greg Norman played at what turned out to be the final AT&T Classic in Duluth, Ga., he addressed the situation, which was just becoming a topic of conversation.
"We just keep knocking on the door," said Norman, who began pushing the topic before the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
It could have happened that year, when Billy Payne was head of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, and Augusta National was interested in hosting the event. That one got derailed when the Atlanta City Council got involved with some petty politics, leaving the Green Jackets to rightfully wash their hands of the matter.
A lot has changed over the last 13 years that makes golf a better fit globally for the Olympics. The game has started to grow globally and has produced outstanding players from places where golf had not traditionally been part of the fabric of society.
Korea has given us K.J. Choi and Y.E. Yang. Sweden has produced Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson. Now the sport is even being embraced in China, where the Mission Hills resort has set some high standards with a dozen courses and three golf academies. China's Liang Wen-chong won the Asian Tour's Order of Merit in 2007 and earned an invitation to the 2008 Masters, both achievements unfathomable 20 years ago.
Just look at how the makeup of the Presidents Cup International Team has changed over the years. In 1994, the International Team was made up of five players from Australia, four from South Africa and one each from Fiji, New Zealand and Japan. There are flags from eight countries on the International Team's board this year that represent Australia (three), South Africa (three), Fiji, Colombia, Argentina, Canada, Korea and Japan.
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Golf leaders believe adding the sport to Olympic competition will help further boost its popularity around the world, particularly in Africa and South America. It probably won't hurt the push that international players (Angel Cabrera and Yang) won two of the sport's four majors in 2009.
"We've become convinced over the last couple years that joining the Olympic program will accelerate the trajectory, raise the trajectory of growth for the game around the globe," PGA TOUR commissioner Tim Finchem said. "I'd say everywhere, but certainly and significantly in Asia and eastern Europe. Anything that grows the game is good for the game in my view."
There are several issues that will need to be addressed if golf gets the nod. Where will it fall on the schedule, and how might that affect the PGA Championship, PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup or Ryder Cup matches? Will Olympic golf provide an avenue for amateur golfers, something that was important to Norman and Seve Ballesteros when they got involved in the early stages.
"I was very much a proponent, and so was Seve, of making sure the amateurs were included, as well as the professionals," Norman said. "If I was an amateur, I would love to play against Tiger Woods."
As for Tiger, he'll be 40 in 2016 and may have far surpassed Jack Nicklaus for major championships and Sam Snead for TOUR victories. With few goals remaining, he would no doubt consider it a great achievement to win an Olympic gold medal. He's said he would play, if chosen. He even recorded a videotaped message to help pitch the sport. It would be another crowning accomplishment for the game's greatest player and a greater feather in the cap of a young player who might steal the international stage by knocking him off.
Golf is a winning proposition for the IOC. Let's just hope they see it that way, too.
Stan Awtrey is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.
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