Olympic Golf Struggled to Get Traction Until Now

The new Olympic golf course currently under construction in Rio de Janiero is said to be magnificent and matches the tropical majesty of premiere South Florida golf courses. However, ever since it was announced that golf would be added to the 2016 Olympic tournaments, the nature regarding who would actually play has been uncertain.

It was not until Rory Mcllroy confirmed that he will compete in this year’s Olympics that many skeptics went silent. After Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Vijay Singh, and others confirmed that they were not going to attend, it was a miracle that a big name, pro golfer like Mcllroy actually agreed to compete. It might breathe a little bit of fire back into what was a waning Olympic golf tournament roster.

Although the inclusion of golf in the 2016 Olympics may have been a shock to some, the announcement was, of course, not met with outrage from golf pros. In fact, golf pros were thrilled at the chance to play their beloved sport in the Olympics, despite opposition from sports writers in the United States. The problem for golf pros instead, is that the 2016 Olympics poses time conflicts.

So far, the professional golfers that have dropped out of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil have credited their decision with one of the following reasons:

PGA Tour Schedule

The 2016 Olympic golf tournament is taking place right in the middle of one of the busiest PGA tour times of the year. The British Open, the U.S. Open, the Bridgestone Invitational, and the Greenbrier Classic are all scheduled around the same time as this year’s Olympic golf tournament; and unfortunately, these other events are far more important for golfers’ careers than the fairly unknown Olympic golf tournament.

The Zika Virus

This reason may hold less weight than the aforementioned, however, golfers know that mosquitoes find their way to the green no matter what the location may be, so since the Zika Virus is spread via mosquito, many golfers have decided to simply not take the risk.

[Check out the previous Deer Creek Golf Club: South Florida Golf Course blog post about the sports inclusion in Olympics this year]