The Olympics

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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

Sandra Gal and Maria Verchenova playing in the same grouping in the Olympics... yeah... things could be worse... :-)

They are no Adam Scott but certainly wouldn't kick them out of bed for a bad fart.

robopz wrote:Sandra Gal and Maria Verchenova playing in the same grouping in the Olympics... yeah... things could be worse... :-)

Racist.....

MustPuttBetter wrote:

robopz wrote:Sandra Gal and Maria Verchenova playing in the same grouping in the Olympics... yeah... things could be worse... :-)

Racist.....

I'm just trying to mask my Shanshan Feng infatuation....

Considering all the issues coming in, I thought golf in the Olympics came off about as well as it could have.   Congratulations to all the medalists... and hearty WELL DONE for all the participants including all those who worked so long to make it happen....

If golf in The Olympics is to survive beyond Tokyo in 2020, they will need to make sure that those at the top of the world rankings on the men's side participate. Regardless of their reasons, not having those who skipped this Olympics had a huge impact on the outcome and on the way golf was viewed. As for golf's impact beyond The Olympics, no one will know the answer to that question for years to come, and maybe never. But, without the best of the best competing, golf will never have the kind of impact in the games that was intended.

robopz wrote:Considering all the issues coming in, I thought golf in the Olympics came off about as well as it could have.   Congratulations to all the medalists... and hearty WELL DONE for all the participants including all those who worked so long to make it happen....

Agreed. Given the reduced depth of the field with the defections, I think they likely over-achieved. But, Tokyo 2020 needs the best playing. If not, I can't see the games inviting golf back in 2024.

hennie,
The decision about Golf in The Olympics will have been made by 2020, surely?

I think they'll keep it for another four years, the actual press coverage of both events seemed to be very positive.

kwinigolfer wrote:The decision about Golf in The Olympics will have been made by 2020, surely?

I think they'll keep it for another four years, the actual press coverage of both events seemed to be very positive.

The IOC is reviewing ALL sports in 2017... supposedly it's at that time the decision if golf will continue in the Olympics past Tokyo 2020 will be made.

I'm an advocate for golf to remain in the Olys, but after the negativity of the WD's from the top men I was very concerned golf would get booted in that 2017 review process, and Tokyo would be their swan song. But I'm not nearly as concerned now.

My attitude going into the Oly's for golf was more of "Let's make the best of a bad situation and try to enjoy it". Well surprise, surprise... it WAY over delivered on that expectation. And I don't think I'm alone in that assessment.

And certainly the off the charts American TV ratings for the final round of the men supported that. I'm not trying to make this a USA thing, but I've read that somewhere between 1/4 to 1/3 of the total revenue side of the entire Olympics comes from the sale of U.S. broadcast rights.... and you can bet that factors into any IOC decision. And I would think the Asian markets (especially Korea and China) were glued to the women's coverage with so many of their ladies performing well.

Agree 100% robo, and that will be magnified if the 2024 Games go to L.A. (again . . . . . ).

Amazing that NBC TV can have such an impact on a product that they cover so dismally. Almost as if this was an Olympics of USA and USAin, and nothing else.

Going into the Olympics, I thought the WDs were going to negatively impact Golf's future in the Olympics.

I no longer think that is the case. Even though I don't think golf belongs in the Olympics (along with Tennis, Soccer, Ice Hockey and Basketball), both events were very compelling golf.

Six different countries won the 6 available medals in Golf. I think it would have been worse if USA swept the podium in Mens golf and Korea swept the podium in womens golf. The IOC had to be delighted to see GBR, SWE, USA, KOR, NZL and CHI on the podium

IIRC, Part of the decision process is competitiveness of many countries in the sport. The IOC doesn't like to see one country dominate the podium whether is it table tennis, Cross Country Skiing or Swimming

There will be no significant infrastructure investment in Tokyo. Course is already there. And should Los Angeles get the 2024 bid, it has plenty of courses. LACC has the US Open in 2023.

There is probably not a championship course in Budapest which looks to be one Europe's contenders for a host city (along with Paris and Rome) so they might have to renovate an existing course or build a new one.

GPB... good point on the variety of countries gracing the golf medal podiums. I agree that's probably a real positive in the eyes of the IOC.

I thought one of the biggest coups was getting the galleries out for the final rounds. Reading between the lines it appears golf interests pulled out all the stops to make that happen via cheap or even free tickets, arm twisting or whatever they had to do. I dunno for sure. But no matter, cuz It worked . They got the crowds there, and they were enthusiastic and created a great on course buzz bot to mention fabulous TV optics. With the dreadful ticket sales and attendance among most all the sports... golf ended up showing quite well in that regard.

Plenty of news articles in the US Press that American visitors to the Olympics were fewer and much further between than expected, and that could have affected golf attendances early in the week.
Can't imagine attendance at any sport in Tokyo will be an issue, and they'll come out in force for golf.

Is it a surprise that American visitors to the Olympics is low? They aren't great travellers and Brazil probably isn't high on many radars.

Super.... no, it's not a surprise few Americans attended... just not for any "not great travelers" reason. More that the negatives about traveling to Rio were played up to such extremes here, people who otherwise would have gone were scared off. I suspect the lack of expected visitors from other nations was similar in terms of %.... just that the USA was expected to be so much of the visitor base, when we stayed home it cut deeper.

Maybe the next Olympics should be in Ireland. Probably get a few Americans over for that.

The interesting point to me though in the last few posts is why anyone would even think that USA could potentially have swept the podium places. Korea in the ladies' maybe but not even thinkable in the mens'

robopz wrote:Super.... no, it's not a surprise few Americans attended... just not for any "not great travelers" reason.  More that the negatives about traveling to Rio were played up to such extremes here,  people who otherwise would have gone were scared off.  I suspect the lack of expected visitors from other nations was similar in terms of %.... just that the USA was expected to be so much of the visitor base, when we stayed home it cut deeper.

Was it even expected that the US would have a big proportion of the visitor base though? I can't think of a reason why that would be the case unless it was held in the US or Canada.

It's not as if the US traditionally holiday in South America and even without scare stories I wouldn't expect the US to travel in numbers to Rio. Location wise it obviously wasn't great for Europeans, Asians or Australasia either.

Hopefully Japan will be better, although some of the scenery has been good in this Olympics, it has had an air of cheapness and half-baked about it.

The British Heptathlete jumped 1.98 m in the high jump part of her event. If she had done the same height in the individual event, she would have won a gold medal. She didn't win a medal in her event.

Wasn't there another Heptathlete that jumped higher than her, so you could say the same for her.

super_realist wrote:Wasn't there another Heptathlete that jumped higher than her, so you could say the same for her.

No, Johnson-Thompson tied at 1.98 with the eventual heptathlon winner (can't think of her name; Belgian though...). Not sure how it would have panned out on preceding jump failures as to who would have won though.

I'm never wrong wrote:The British Heptathlete jumped 1.98 m in the high jump part of her event. If she had done the same height in the individual event, she would have won a gold medal. She didn't win a medal in her event.

That's a pretty amazing stat. Bit gutting though!

navyblueshorts wrote:

I'm never wrong wrote:The British Heptathlete jumped 1.98 m in the high jump part of her event. If she had done the same height in the individual event, she would have won a gold medal. She didn't win a medal in her event.

That's a pretty amazing stat. Bit gutting though!

Johnson Thompson and Thiam both jumped 1.98 in the Heptathlon. Never though entered the high jump though.

The Olympics men's golf competition was definitely a success if the viewing figures are anything to go by.

10m watched Justin Rose win the Olympic gold on the BBC.
1.1m watched the climax to The Open on Sky this year
4.7m was the peak audience for The Open in 2015 on the BBC.
5.5m watched Rory McIlry win The Open in 2014 on the BBC.

Even in Sweden 1.5m watched the Olympics golf final few holes compared to just 80,000 who watched Henrik Stenson win The Open.

Davie wrote:The interesting point to me though in the last few posts is why anyone would even think that USA could potentially have swept the podium places. Korea in the ladies' maybe but not even thinkable in the mens'

sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh.

I guessed I should have prefaced my USA Sweep the podium comment with something like

"In the Highly Unlikely event that the Perfect Storm and the Star align...."

Holy out of context. Talk about MISSING the Point of the post.

10M (out of what? 70M??) may have watched Justin Rose.
But 11M Canadians (out of about 33M) watched the farewell concert of the Tragically Hip. Wish I had done.

GPB wrote:

Davie wrote:The interesting point to me though in the last few posts is why anyone would even think that USA could potentially have swept the podium places. Korea in the ladies' maybe but not even thinkable in the mens'

sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh.

I guessed I should have prefaced my USA Sweep the podium comment with something like

"In the Highly Unlikely event that the Perfect Storm and the Star align...."

Holy out of context.  Talk about MISSING the Point of the post.

Not at all out of context. I put it in context by saying that it was the one comment in the previous 3 or 4 posts that caught my eye . .not that it was a main point but a HOLY (sic) optimistic point to make

super_realist wrote:Was it even expected that the US would have a big proportion of the visitor base though? I can't think of a reason why that would be the case unless it was held in the US or Canada.

It's not as if the US traditionally holiday in South America and even without scare stories I wouldn't expect the US to travel in numbers to Rio. Location wise it obviously wasn't great for Europeans, Asians or Australasia either.

 Super... I would think it very likely a very high visitor rate from the U.S. was expected.   The U.S. is already listed as the country with the 2nd most visitor arrivals in Brazil on an annual basis (behind neighboring Argentina).  And the USA had the highest number of foreign country visitors for the London Olympics as well.

So sure... seeing as how Americans have proven they will travel to the Olympics... and I'd suspect since so many Americans visit Brazil on an annual basis anyway... far more than the American "norms" would have been expected to make their way to Rio.  But there was such a climate of fear up here, I can understand so few going. I assume it was the same "fears" as the reson for the dearth of visitors from the rest of the world as well.

GPB wrote:

Davie wrote:The interesting point to me though in the last few posts is why anyone would even think that USA could potentially have swept the podium places. Korea in the ladies' maybe but not even thinkable in the mens'

sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh.

I guessed I should have prefaced my USA Sweep the podium comment with something like

"In the Highly Unlikely event that the Perfect Storm and the Star align...."

Holy out of context.  Talk about MISSING the Point of the post.

We haven't got yet another American Bible thumper have we?

robopz wrote:

super_realist wrote:Was it even expected that the US would have a big proportion of the visitor base though? I can't think of a reason why that would be the case unless it was held in the US or Canada.

It's not as if the US traditionally holiday in South America and even without scare stories I wouldn't expect the US to travel in numbers to Rio. Location wise it obviously wasn't great for Europeans, Asians or Australasia either.

 Super... I would think it very likely a very high visitor rate from the U.S. was expected.   The U.S. is already listed as the country with the 2nd most visitor arrivals in Brazil on an annual basis (behind neighboring Argentina).  And the USA had the highest number of foreign country visitors for the London Olympics as well.

So sure... seeing as how Americans have proven they will travel to the Olympics... and I'd suspect since so many Americans visit Brazil on an annual basis anyway... far more than the American "norms" would have been expected to make their way to Rio.  But there was such a climate of fear up here, I can understand so few going.  I assume it was the same "fears" as the reson for the dearth of visitors from the rest of the world as well.

Fair enough, I don't understand the "climate of fear" though. If America are the 2nd biggest visitors on an annual basis, why would the Olympics make any difference?

There's probably a large proportion of business travelers. Also Americans have traditionally been sensitive to "climates of fear" why a lot probably have stayed home.

It could be that, apart from the headliners, Team USA pretty much underperformed in Rio, the team just wasn't that great.
Out-golded and out-medaled by GB by almost 3 to 1 on a per capita basis.

super_realist wrote:

robopz wrote:

super_realist wrote:Was it even expected that the US would have a big proportion of the visitor base though? I can't think of a reason why that would be the case unless it was held in the US or Canada.

It's not as if the US traditionally holiday in South America and even without scare stories I wouldn't expect the US to travel in numbers to Rio. Location wise it obviously wasn't great for Europeans, Asians or Australasia either.

 Super... I would think it very likely a very high visitor rate from the U.S. was expected.   The U.S. is already listed as the country with the 2nd most visitor arrivals in Brazil on an annual basis (behind neighboring Argentina).  And the USA had the highest number of foreign country visitors for the London Olympics as well.

So sure... seeing as how Americans have proven they will travel to the Olympics... and I'd suspect since so many Americans visit Brazil on an annual basis anyway... far more than the American "norms" would have been expected to make their way to Rio.  But there was such a climate of fear up here, I can understand so few going.  I assume it was the same "fears" as the reson for the dearth of visitors from the rest of the world as well.

Fair enough, I don't understand the "climate of fear" though. If America are the 2nd biggest visitors on an annual basis, why would the Olympics make any difference?

Ummm, Zika maybe?

So domestic visits to Florida have been reduced too then?

Funny how it was only golfers concerned about Zika, and only male golfers, more like an excuse not to get involved.

The male golfers didn't fancy it, and used the Zika virus as a convenient excuse. Every report said it was a decreasing risk due to the area and time of year.

beninho wrote:The male golfers didn't fancy it, and used the Zika virus as a convenient excuse. Every report said it was a decreasing risk due to the area and time of year.

Yep, agree. Of course given that Zika now has a foothold in Florida are we likely to see an imminent mass golf pro emigration from the Lake Nona area? I don't think so. It was a convenient but very poor excuse.

Thanks to the Olympics !
My daughter turned round to me at the weekend and said 'did you watch the golf dad it was really exciting'
This is a girl 18 doing sports science,plays all sports except golf ,best mate is county champion,Ive been trying to get her interested for the last ten years to no avail.Flatly refusues on the basis that it takes too long.
Finally thanks to Miss Hull a little sign of interest.

Miss Hull is undoubtledly very good but everything about the shot looks a little rushed(I know they are slow)
On 9 in the final round she took three practice swings clipping the ground each time then hit the shot without wiping the club - came up fifteen yards short.Final putt my daughter asked 'why did she leave it short when she had the chance of a medal?'

super_realist wrote:So domestic visits to Florida have been reduced too then?

Funny how it was only golfers concerned about Zika, and only male golfers, more like an excuse not to get involved.

Huh? Who's talking about potential Olympic male golfers as if that's representative? I'm talking about the wider U.S. population as potential travellers to the Olympics and their possible reaction to Zika in Brazil as a reason why not as many as were expected apparently went to watch.

Hull seems to be from the grip it an rip school of course management, much like Rory. But would they really benefit from adopting a Stenson like snails pace routine?

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:So domestic visits to Florida have been reduced too then?

Funny how it was only golfers concerned about Zika, and only male golfers, more like an excuse not to get involved.

Huh? Who's talking about potential Olympic male golfers as if that's representative? I'm talking about the wider U.S. population as potential travellers to the Olympics and their possible reaction to Zika in Brazil as a reason why not as many as were expected apparently went to watch.

It's very simple, It sounds like the US spectators are using the Zika scare as a similar excuse to what the male golfers have done. Not that hard to comprehend is it ?

If we are to believe that US people make up much of their tourist trade, then did they also use the zika virus as an excuse not to travel?

The world could actually do with a lot more Americans with smaller heads, so it's a pity more didn't make the journey.

super_realist wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:So domestic visits to Florida have been reduced too then?

Funny how it was only golfers concerned about Zika, and only male golfers, more like an excuse not to get involved.

Huh? Who's talking about potential Olympic male golfers as if that's representative? I'm talking about the wider U.S. population as potential travellers to the Olympics and their possible reaction to Zika in Brazil as a reason why not as many as were expected apparently went to watch.

It's very simple, It sounds like the US spectators are using the Zika scare as a similar excuse to what the male golfers have done. Not that hard to comprehend is it ?

If we are to believe that US people make up much of their tourist trade, then did they also use the zika virus as an excuse not to travel?

The world could actually do with a lot more less Americans but with smaller heads, so it's a pity more didn't make the journey.

super_realist wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:So domestic visits to Florida have been reduced too then?

Funny how it was only golfers concerned about Zika, and only male golfers, more like an excuse not to get involved.

Huh? Who's talking about potential Olympic male golfers as if that's representative? I'm talking about the wider U.S. population as potential travellers to the Olympics and their possible reaction to Zika in Brazil as a reason why not as many as were expected apparently went to watch.

It's very simple, It sounds like the US spectators are using the Zika scare as a similar excuse to what the male golfers have done. Not that hard to comprehend is it ?

If we are to believe that US people make up much of their tourist trade, then did they also use the zika virus as an excuse not to travel?

The world could actually do with a lot more Americans with smaller heads, so it's a pity more didn't make the journey.

Oh, that's BS. The potential spectators weren't MEANT to be going, unlike the golfers, and so didn't need an 'excuse'. Why on Earth would they need an excuse not to go? They just wouldn't go. If Zika was an issue for U.S. spectators, it's down to the idea of a 'Plague! Run!' and lack of enough detail on the consequences of infection, which on the back of the not-so-long-ago Ebola outbreak, sounds scary. Safer to stay at home in many people's heads.

I don't really see the point you're trying to make.

Someone claimed that the US were predicted to make up the majority of visitors to the Olympics, yet, they didn't turn up. What was the reason for this IF they make up a large volume of visitors OUTSIDE of the Olympics? What made them stay away if usually they are such great visitors to Brazil (which I doubt)

I'm not saying it was Zika, but it seems like a convenient excuse, also I doubt they'd have gone much anyway, zika, crime or not. They might have travelled to London, but why would they go to Rio?

super_realist wrote:Fair enough, I don't understand the "climate of fear" though. If America are the 2nd biggest visitors on an annual basis, why would the Olympics make any difference?

Super... the stories around here were all but leaving the impression that to go to Rio for the Olympics was almost sure to result in your catching some disease, being crushed under some crumbling Olympic or other infrastructure or being the victim of crime. Seemed to me the negative really took hold early in the year, and the momentum of the negative stories about Rio became overwhelming. I'd never really seen or heard anything quite like it. And don't get me wrong... it's NOT as though the fears were totally unfounded. When an epidemic like Zika reaches the level to get the the kinds of travel advisories Brazil was getting from the likes of our own State Department, there was ample reason for caution. But still... IMO it was all monumentally overblown here.

Zach Johnson thoughts on Olympic Golf is basically echoing McIlroy's

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/zach-johnson-did-not-watch-olympic-golf

robopz wrote:

super_realist wrote:Fair enough, I don't understand the "climate of fear" though. If America are the 2nd biggest visitors on an annual basis, why would the Olympics make any difference?

Super... the stories around here were all but leaving the impression that to go to Rio for the Olympics was almost sure to result in your catching some disease, being crushed under some crumbling Olympic or other infrastructure or being the victim of crime.  Seemed to me the negative really took hold early in the year, and the momentum of the negative stories about Rio became overwhelming.  I'd never really seen or heard anything quite like it.    And don't get me wrong... it's NOT as though the fears were totally unfounded. When an epidemic like Zika reaches the level to get the the kinds of travel advisories Brazil was getting from the likes of our own State Department, there was ample reason for caution.  But still... IMO it was all monumentally overblown here.

Why are America so credulous Robo? It seems they will believe anything as long as a news network reports it.

Not sure if this video is accessible outside the USA, but apparently an Olympian brought home a pet from Brazil

https://weather.com/science/nature/video/dog-sized-rodents-capybaras-invade-florida

super_realist wrote:Why are America so credulous Robo? It seems they will believe anything as long as a news network reports it.

No need for that... It's just that with so many other options and "trouble free" destinations from which to choose... the decision NOT choosing to go down to Rio for the Olympics was made that much easier. And again... apparently it wasn't just us... seems most the world stayed away in droves... I assume many of them for the same reasons.

super_realist wrote:Why are America so credulous Robo? It seems they will believe anything as long as a news network reports it.

You mean like people believing that the genuine risks of leaving the EU were "project fear"?

GPB wrote:Not sure if this video is accessible outside the USA, but apparently an Olympian brought home a pet from Brazil

https://weather.com/science/nature/video/dog-sized-rodents-capybaras-invade-florida

Pretty cute critters. I hope they don't start trashing gas stations.

robopz wrote:

super_realist wrote:Why are America so credulous Robo? It seems they will believe anything as long as a news network reports it.

No need for that...   It's just that with so many other options and "trouble free" destinations from which to choose... the decision NOT choosing to go down to Rio for the Olympics was made that much easier.  And again... apparently it wasn't just us... seems most the world stayed away in droves... I assume many of them for the same reasons.

Yes, the rest of the world stayed away, but Europe, Australia are considerably further away than America is, and you guys are "apparently" one of the biggest tourists to Brazil, so you've not got the excuses we have as you already have a better flight infrastructure to get there if we are to believe America are such frequent visitors.