The 2016 British Open and Rory McIlroy’s View of Golf in the Olympics

Last updated on: August 29, 2016 at 1:04 pm by Kermit Zarley

The 2016 British Open and Rory McIlroy’s View of Golf in the Olympics 2016-08-29T13:04:57-07:00 Kermit Zarley

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The British Open golf tournament is being staged this week at the famous Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. Under benign weather conditions the first round on Thursday, five-time major champion and American Phil Mickelson got off to a blazing start with a 63. That is the lowest score ever shot in any of golf’s four major championships, though there have been something like about 25 of them.

His golf game this week looks like the Californian Mickelson, known for his penchant for gambling (as much as Michael Jordan?), has put two gaffs behind him and moved on: (1) his public remark about considering moving out of his home state of California because of its outrageously high taxation rates (how much money do you need, Phil?), and (2) his $1 million investment in shares of Dean Foods in which he suspiciously received secret advise about it, from professional gambler and friend Billy Walters, that the SEC finally concluded was not quite insider trading and thus not a legal infraction.

After three rounds in the Open championship, with typical blustery winds today, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson leads the tournament at twelve under par, one shot over Mickelson, with Bill Haas five strokes behind Phil. So, tomorrow’s final round could come down to pretty much match play between Henrik and Phil.

Although the young guys and gals have been taking over professional golf as of late, the older guys have come to the top this week in golf’s oldest competition. Forty-year old Stenson has been knocking at the door several times in past years to grab his first major win. He seems poised to accomplish it tomorrow with his literally firm grip on the club and always stellar iron play. But forty-six year old Mickelson has the advantage in confidence of having five major wins, including hefting the Claret jug in 2013, and a surprising ten runner-ups in majors.

For decades, the powers that be have been considering putting golf in the Olympics. It finally happened, and golf will be in the Olympics very soon this year for the first time.

In the days leading up to the first round of the Open this week, the big talk was that golf’s top four pros–Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, and Rory McIlroy–had been committed to play this summer in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and then they all pulled out in recent days. Johnson, with his first child at less than two years of age, and others expressed worry about the Zika virus. But Rory McIlroy ruffled the feathers of golf’s elite organizers, who work behind the golf scenes, by implying that he pulled out of the Olympics because he didn’t think golf belonged in it. He nonchalantly talked mostly about his dismissal of having any obligation to “grow the game.” He said he didn’t take up golf with that in mind, and he didn’t think he now had any such obligation.

When asked if he would watch golf in the Olympics on television, Rory indicated he would not by saying he likely would watch only the sports that “matter,” such as those that involve “running, jumping, and swimming.”

Rory McIlroy, incidentally, is quite athletic-looking as is Tiger Woods, Jason Day, and other top golf stars. They work out many hours strenuously in the gym, lifting heavy weights and doing all sorts of feats of strength the couch potato golf fans who watch these superstars on TV know nothing about. Seems like golf should be in the Olympics just because of that. All golfers don’t ride carts, you know.

Well, Rory dropped a bombshell. Right after the twenty-seven year old gave that interview that was simultaneously televised live, television commentators at the Open then dissected every word the superstar had just uttered. Brandel Chamblee deemed it a big gaff by the young, four-time major winner that he would live to regret. Yes, I think it was a gaff. But will he live to regret it, Brandel? Rory McIlroy, as the name suggests, is an Irishman. Those usually friendly and humorous folks are known for speaking their mind even though it may ruffle a few feathers. I haven’t known of them retrenching their straightforwardness.

McIlroy obviously was taking up the decades-old discussion of whether or not golf is enough of an athletic competition to deserve being in the Olympics. Hey Rory, BADMINTON is in the Olympics! I know, you don’t think IT should be either. But Rory, you are too young and therefore late to the party. It was decided years ago that golf deserved to be in the Olympics. Why? I think the main reason is that it has become one of the top sports in the world that so many “real athletes,” as Rory might say, love to play. I’ve known so many professional athletes in other sports who say golf is their favorite game. Michael Jordan tried baseball; but he would have rather played on the PGA Tour.

But golf has a problem. It has been losing players especially in the U.S. for the past ten or twenty years. That’s what the elite in golf are worried about when it comes to this discussion about whether or not golf should be in the Olympics. If it is, it will give golf some needed world recognition, especially in third world countries where golf is gaining ground, such as China. That’s place has a lot of people.

So, Rory doesn’t think he has an obligation to “grow the game.” I’m sure PGA Tour commissioner Tom Finchem, who is always talking publicly about his mission to serve the pros by “growing the game of golf,” must have winced when he heard Rory McIlroy utter his gaff. Although the superstar is not an American, he IS a member of the PGA Tour.

But forget Finchem. What do Rory McIlroy’s commercial sponsors think of what he said about not having an obligation to the grow the game? They surely want the game of golf to grow so that they can make more money from their golf merchandise, some of which may have the name RORY MC ILROY on it.

Rory has several such contracts with commercial sponsors. But I’ll only mention one. Doesn’t Rory McIlroy have a ten-year contract with Nike that is supposed to be worth $200 million to him or more? I would think that would be enough incentive for the outspoken Irishman to bite his lip and grow the game.

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