Fixing Olympic Golf

The Tokyo Summer Games are approaching and Olympic golf will provide one of the most anticipated competitions in golf-crazed Japan.

I’m just not sure I’m on the Olympics golf bandwagon, yet.

When golf was added in 2016 in Brazil, I was curious and optimistic. Golf is a truly global sport. It made sense. I’m just not sure it’s working in its current format.

I applaud the Olympics for trying to keep the games current by adding new sports. Karate is new this year. With the games in Japan that makes a lot of sense.

It certainly makes more sense than adding Break Dancing, which will be part of the 2024 Paris games. I’m less bullish on that.

Sometimes it seems we’re headed towards “Texting” becoming an Olympic sport. That should be riveting. The slo-mo replays of some 11-year old typing, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” sounds enthralling.

As it stands now, Justin Rose is the only living man with an Olympic gold medal in golf. I’m assuming without actually checking that the 1900 and 1904 golf medalists in golf – Charles Sands and George Lyon, respectively – have both driven their balls into the eternal fairway, if you catch my drift.

Many pros are outwardly enthusiastic about the games. Who doesn’t want an Olympic medal?

Well, apparently many of the top players in the world.

The games have secured a field that includes some of the top players, but with over half the OWGR hailing from the US, 21 of the Top 50 in the world will not be present.

Dustin opt-ed out. So did Tyrell Hatton and Louis Oosthuizen. Sergio is out to try to make the Ryder Cup team. You won’t see Brooks, Cantlay or Patrick Reed; they are Top 10 players who lost out to higher ranked Americans.

The point being – Olympic Golf isn’t about identifying the best golfer in the world and that makes it more of an exhibition than a truly competitive sporting event.

When we watch the 100 meter sprint, the 400 Individual Medley, or even Rhythmic Gymnastics, we rightly assume we are watching a competition between the very best in the world at those sports.

Not so in Olympic golf.

Amazingly, there are nutters among us who ask, “Does Olympic Golf deserve to be considered at the same level as a Major?”

Hell no, it doesn’t. But it could. And I have two ideas to elevate the competition and prestige of Olympic golf.

Idea 1: Make Olympic golf the Earth Open.

Ok, that name sucks, but you get the idea. Just like the US Open, they could create a qualifier system around the world. Or use the OWGR for the top 128 golfers in the world.

Does that mean some countries might have dozens of participants and others may get shut out?

Yes. All I can say is Equatorial Guinea will need to invest more in youth golf if they want to go for the gold on the greens.

And here’s a kicker. Make Olympic golf Match Play.

When the PGA Championship dropped match play decades ago, that type of competition fell away from the consciousness of the average golf fan.

Sure, we have the WGC Dell Match play. But when you tune in that week, doesn’t it always feel like, “What the heck is this? I wanted to watch a real tournament.”

A match play Olympics golf event would give the tournament a unique format and brand. It would also extend the competition to capture more viewers. Best of all, it would separate and elevate Olympic golf from regular professional golf.

Match play would also bring a mano-a-mano competition to the event, a hallmark of the Olympics since its inception.

Idea 2: Make Olympic golf the World Amateur Championship.

I’m an old school Olympic fan. I grew up on “Cold War” Olympic games where the fate of the world rested on Mike Eruzione’s stick. There’s nothing better than watching a bunch of college amateurs beat the Soviet pros at their best sport.

And who among us doesn’t pine for the days of Bulgarian diving judges downgrading American competitors just to please their masters in Moscow?

Believe me, the Olympics were a lot more fun then.

Like every other American, I enjoyed the original Dream Team in basketball, but that’s lost its luster. The pros don’t even take it seriously these days. Olympic golf is quickly headed that direction.

I’d rather watch amateur athletes have their day on the world stage. The Olympics could be that stage for amateur golfers.

Not only would it introduce the world to the next generation of the world’s best golfers, it would do more to grow the game around the world by giving amateur players their own global Major.

While it is nearly impossible to put Olympic gold on the same level as a current Major, for the amateurs, it seems more likely to become a big deal.

The US Amateur currently serves as the identifier for the worlds best amateur. But every four years, the Olympics could create an “Am Slam” (I actually like that name, contact my copyright lawyer!) if a player wins the US Amateur and the Olympic gold.

That would be worth watching.

I won’t hold my breath on any of this, but I think Olympic golf could repurpose itself and become something really special in the amateur golf world.

Right now it’s a lark where pros fly in on private jets, stay in exclusive hotels, and don’t really mix with the other athletes. That’s not the Olympics to me.

I want heated competition. I want tears, and yelling, and flag-waving, and attempts at cheating, and international incidents that move the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation.

Ok, maybe not that last one. But I think we can make Olympic golf a whole lot more interesting.

Here’s to hoping the Olympic Committee takes heed.