The Olympics

Tee Times RD 3
7:30 a.m. -- Shingo Katayama, Julien Quesne, Wen-Tang Lin

7:41 a.m. -- Miguel Luis Tabuena, Jhonattan Vegas, Espen Kofstad

7:52 a.m. -- Brandon Stone, Anirban Lahiri, Roope Kakko

8:03 a.m. -- Thongchai Jaidee, Rickie Fowler, Gavin Green

8:14 a.m. -- Jaco Van Zyl, Wu Ashun, Siddikur Rahman

8:25 a.m. -- Hao Tong Li, Fabrizio Zanotti, Nino Bertasio

8:41 a.m. -- Ryan Fox, Adilson da Silva, Danny Chia

8:52 a.m. -- David Hearn, Yuta Ikeda, Scott Hend

9:03 a.m. -- Jeunghun Wang, Felipe Aguilar, Rodolfo Cazaubon

9:14 a.m. -- Joost Luiten, S.S.P. Chawrasia, Matteo Manassero

9:25 a.m. -- Danny Willett, Martin Kaymer, Mikko Ilonen

9:36 a.m. -- Padraig Harrington, Soren Kjeldsen, Bernd Wiesberger

9:47 a.m. -- Ricardo Gouveia, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed

10:03 a.m. -- Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Jose-Filipe Lima, Bubba Watson

10:14 a.m. -- David Lingmerth, Matt Kuchar, Byeong Hun An

10:25 a.m. -- Seamus Power, Emiliano Grillo, Nicolas Colsaerts

10:36 a.m. -- Cheng Tsung Pan, Thorbjorn Olesen, Alex Cejka

10:47 a.m. -- Graham DeLaet, Danny Lee, Fabian Gomez

10:58 a.m. -- Gregory Bourdy, Justin Rose, Rafa Cabrera Bello

11:09 a.m. -- Marcus Fraser, Thomas Pieters, Henrik Stenson

Looks like a Wednesday Sweep. Hope they've put their £2 in for 2's.

Still think the Top 15 rule, designed to squeak more Americans in, is ridiculous and surely the antithesis of the Olympic spirit.
Looks like NBC TV drew up the tee-times as well.

Agree about the top 15 rule Kwini

Should have been a team event 3 vs 3 in matchplay.

Or like the Olympic boxing, amateur only. The true Olympic spirit.

3v3 Matchplay? WTF is that?

super_realist wrote:3v3 Matchplay? WTF is that?

Use your analytical skills, go on dare ya....

Pretty cool that Adilson Da Silva is hitting the first shot!

MontysMerkin wrote:

super_realist wrote:3v3 Matchplay? WTF is that?

Use your analytical skills, go on dare ya....

I hope he doesn't mean 3 against 3 and instead means something like the old Dunhill Cup tournament with a team of three who played strokeplay against one another, which actually wouldn't be bad.

You could play 2 ball sixsome?  Each team member playing every third shot.

Or maybe 3 matches of 1 vs 1, and best of three is the team that wins overall.


Whatever the format it should have been some sort of interesting small team matchlpay.

PS, anyone see that Rory got trolled by a couple of Irish Olympic boxers on Twitter?

True to the Olympic spirit, some of the American team (and possibly athletes of other countries, haven't seen anything though) are staying in a cruise liner, anchored off Rio.

And a couple of boxers have already been arrested for unwanted sexual advances on unwitting women - in the Namibian's case, a fresh spin on Flag Bearing.

McLaren wrote:PS, anyone see that Rory got trolled by a couple of Irish Olympic boxers on Twitter?  

I'm sure he's really bothered by a bunch would be drive re-surfacing "specialists" as he sits counting his hundreds of millions.

Btw who is a fan of golf in the Olympics?

Gary Player.

What do people think of the proper Olympics so far, in comparison to London it looks very cheap whilst the production quality of the TV broadcasters has been pretty terrible. If it weren't for some of the views in the outdoor sports it would be a dead loss to me.

I love the Olympics. I watched the fencing yesterday, its a good TV sport, though only every 4 years. I have no issues with Golf in the Olympics, Its only every 4 years. I dont get the whole nonsense about it having to be the pinnacle of the sport to be in the Olympics, unsure who made that up, its clearly rubbish though. Let them have Golf, some players really want to get involved in the whole experience.

Haven't watched any of it - yet. Might watch some athletics. Missed a lot of the 2012 version as I was working whilst it was on.

The BBC coverage has been dreadful so far.

They seem to spend all their time producing montages. Instead of showing Andy Murray slow motion fist pumps with backing music, how about actually showing some of the key rallies, maybe even some highlights? The Brazilian women's beach volley ball match had the potential to be great TV but was turned into a pathetic montage.

We like to moan about the US broadcasters lack on interest in foreigners, well the BBC are doing a pretty good impression. We got fencing last night, following some british bloke's journey to the semi's. Fair enough, but then after he lost the BBC didn't even bother showing a second of the final.

I'm hoping coverage steps up a gear later in the when when the proper stuff gets going.

Ray, I think the BBC is at the mercy of what the host broadcaster chooses to show in terms of replays and montages.

Can't blame the host broadcaster for not showing a final though, sounds like the BBC just didn't take up the option.

McLaren wrote:PS, anyone see that Rory got trolled by a couple of Irish Olympic boxers on Twitter?  

Hilariously the boxer at the centre of this story got beaten today. Looks like he should have done a "no show" too. Maybe next time he'll get the job done first before trying to be a clever clogs.

Pubehead gets the last laugh.

Only thing I've watched so far is the cycling road races...ouch!! Don't think Doak designed the road race course :-/

I think it is a GREAT Opening Threesome

Brazil's Addison De Silva will hit opening tee shot.

Canada highest ranked player, Graham Delaet, will hit 2nd shot. George Lyon of Canada won Golf's last gold medal in 1904.

Korean Beyong An will hit the third shot. His parents were medal winners in table tennis in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Agree GPB, US Open tee-time quality and imagination.
Trouble is, that's where it stopped.

The BBC website shows most events in their entirety. The tv stuff is just GB highlights and interviews as far as I can see.

Golf will be interesting in one respect. In proper golf, no one is excited to come 2nd or 3rd in an event and would view it as a disappointment. Will the silver and bronze medallists be jumping around like lunatics for not having won?

super_realist wrote:Golf will be interesting in one respect. In proper golf, no one is excited to come 2nd or 3rd in an event and would view it as a disappointment. Will the silver and bronze medallists be jumping around like lunatics for not having won?

Guess it depends who they are and how honest they are to the cameras. I'm sure they'll mostly come out and say it's great to get a medal for <insert country> waffle waffle, blah blah and if its a (so called) lesser player will probably mean it. But good point, Kaymer (purely as an example) won't be measuring his career fondly on how many 3rd places he got.

Fowler might

I've often found it interesting how many sports people are delighted to be 2nd or 3rd in the Olympics. Yes, it's true it's validation for all the hard work and a measure of where you stand against your peers, however, I'd expect more people to look fed up with having put all that work in and not to have won. Of course there are some sports where you haven't a chance of winning if there are countries miles ahead of you, but it seems a bit odd to me to be so happy with 3rd place.

I'm not saying it's rewarding failure to win bronze or silver, but it does seem a bit odd that people are going crazy, whereas if it were a sport outside the Olympics, people aren't happy with being 2nd or 3rd. Sport is a funny thing.

Just once I'd like to see a competitor to be interviewed and be absolutely fuming that they only had a silver or bronze in response to the interviewers gushing praise for effectively being the 1st or 2nd loser.

To judge from social media the golfers seem to have a good time. So hopefully they'll remember to bring some of the 650,000 johnnies to their cruise ship.

The BBC has 8/9 channels showing live coverage, its pretty good, though unsure if this is only on Sky.

The Chinese looked gutted they only got 3rd in the mens gymnastics last night. But I think usually, to be third in the world is a pretty big achievement.

Of course the high profile multi millionaire golfers are having a good time, they know they can wind down when they actually go and compete!

super_realist wrote:

MontysMerkin wrote:

super_realist wrote:3v3 Matchplay? WTF is that?

Use your analytical skills, go on dare ya....

I hope he doesn't mean 3 against 3 and instead means something like the old Dunhill Cup tournament with a team of three who played strokeplay against one another, which actually wouldn't be bad.

Yeah let me clarify that. 3 players per country playing head to head singles matchplay against another 3. 32 countrys, no more than 96 golfers (48 matches) on the course at any one time.

It could be straight knock out 32 -> 16 -> 8 etc or eight groups four; play each other country in your group in a round robin, top country in each group qualifies for the quarters. The group method would probably require a Wednesday start.

I just think that 60 golfers stroke play is a bit dull and since it is the Olympics could have made it more of a team event.

An Aussie commentator on the men's diving.  WARNING. Not safe for work - language.
CLICK HERE

This is what I would like to see for the Olympic Competiton. (This is very similar to the NCAA college Championship)

30 Countries represented, with two men and two women apiece.

54 holes of stroke play for the Men and 54 holes of stroke play for the women. Medals go to the three low scores for each gender.

8 lowest cumulative team scores (all four scores count) advance to Team Play which is Match Play. Seeded by score.

Teams are bracketed by their cumulative score, so the #1 seed plays the 8th seed. #2 seed vs #7 seed, etc.

4 singles matches (men vs men, women vs women). 1 pt for a win, 1/2 pt for a half. If the match ends at 2 to 2, the higher seed gets to choose whether it is the men or women in the playoff. (or you could put a man and woman in an alternate shot playoff)

Thats the foundation of what I would like to see. Incorporates a individual and a team aspect to the matches with the men and women competing as a team.

Inw,
That's brilliant - can't beat Aussie sophistication.

Posted by a mate on Facebook. Honest.

Just been watching the Olympic ladies beach volleyball competition and there has already been a wrist injury. But I should be ok by Friday.

Usain Bolt's presser

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/zaccardi-i-survived-usain-bolts-wild-press-conference

Bad day for the Williamses with Sonny Bill, Serena and Venus all going home.
Not that I have any problem with that.

GPB

I like your idea for the Olympic format. The only issue might be that it is 54 holes + however many rounds you survive in the knockout, which given that players are already skipping the event due to having to play too often may be an issue.

Getting some team action, especially mixed, could really grab the attention of the non golf fan viewer. I for example really enjoyed the gymnastics team event last night.


Kwini

Please tell me you aren't a Serena hater?

In honor of the 21.

Phelps mega putt:

sirbenson wrote:Btw who is a fan of golf in the Olympics?

I am

Wonderful swim team efforts by the US Squad!

Serena is a legend Kwini! One of the greatest athletes of all time, if not the best imo!

For what it's worth, Venus is playing in the mixed doubles so she isn't quite done with the Olympics yet!

I am a fan of Golf in the Olympics to answer my own question! It can only help grow the game and I'd imagine some players not all will start to regret their decision to miss out!

https://twitter.com/JustinRayGC/status/763351799130681344

That's kind of cool stat that some players who have never experienced a major will get to experience the Olympics!

I'm a fan of team golf events. It would be more interesting if the Olympic golf was a team event.

But in most sports the Olympic event is exactly the same as the normal event. e.g athletics it is all the same whether a diamond league 100m or Olympic final. So I understand the decision to go 72 holes stroke play.

For a format... IMO the NCAA's have NAILED it...  It would work great with only slight modification.

4 days of individual stroke play to crown an individual champion while also qualifying 8 best teams into a knock-out match play format.  

Start with 16 4-player teams that are determined by the combined world ranking of the top 2 or 3 players from each country. (64 players)

Then add 16 players from countries that don't already have teams, max of 2 per country. (That brings it up to 80 players)

Play 4 days of medal play (no cut).  The individual champion is low medal score.  

The 8 teams to advance to match play are determined by the low aggregate medal score of all 4 of their players... and are seeded accordingly. Then it's 4 individual matches team 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7 etc..... 2 pts for win, 1 for half, one player from each will be chose for a playoff if necessary.

It takes 6 days... but it's two medals and because the stroke play is also qualifying teams... that medal play portion retains a lot more interest than just the individual play...  It also guarantees that the worlds best get a shot at at least an individual medal even if that player's country isn't deep enough to qualify a team.. (think Lydia Ko because NZL probably wouldn't qualify a team for instance)

Mac, sirb,
I'm quite a fan of Venus, just don't like her diva sister, or any other divas for that matter - divas in the eye of the beholder of course, Beckham, A-Rod and Shazza on my list. Oh (not Sadaharu), and Tiger.

Hey robo,
Think you've nailed it too! Good to see you . . . . missed you at Hartford.

Kwini

Do you really have to like the athlete all that much to appreciate their greatness assuming they haven't taken a really sour route like being a bigot or similar?

Serena is easily one of the top few sportspeople of all time and getting to watch her play in her prime is a real privilege. Same goes for Tiger, who cares if you don't warm to his character if you are a real fan of golf you must have enjoyed watching him at his best.

sirbenson wrote:I am a fan of Golf in the Olympics to answer my own question! It can only help grow the game and I'd imagine some players not all will start to regret their decision to miss out!

I agree. While I don't think the players fears were totally unfounded, IMO they were greatly overblown (or at least I hope that proves to be the case once its all said and done).

kwinigolfer wrote:
Hey robo,
Think you've nailed it too! Good to see you . . . . missed you at Hartford.

Thanks Kwini... I sure miss being at the events... I loved the way Travelers have most everything come together between 1 & 18. Their hospitality was pretty amazing. But can't say I miss the travel or being away from home...