Issue #31 Vol. 35, September 8th, 2009
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Sports

Should golf be an Olympic sport? Absolutely

By Garth McLennan

The debate about which sports should be Olympic events and which shouldn’t is pretty much timeless, and it’s sure to be stirred again with golf looking very much like the newest sport to be included in the 2016 Summer Games. That’s because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board has recently returned a decision recommending the inclusion of golf and rugby sevens. In order to have golf rubberstamped as an official Olympic event, the full 106 strong IOC will vote on the matter in October.

What I can’t understand is why people are upset about this. Golf is a game that requires a tremendous amount of skill and is perfectly suited to the two-week format of the Olympics. The standard, medal-play professional golf tournament is contested over four days, with a cut of the bottom tier players coming after the second day. That would fit in nicely, considering how highly compact almost everything else is at the Olympics.

Golf is also an extremely international sport. I mean, almost every country out there plays golf. It isn’t like other sports currently on the Olympic roster which are almost always dominated by the United States or China. All you have to do for proof of that is take a quick look at the PGA Tour World Rankings.

Sure, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, both Americans, top the list but after that it’s fairly open. Paul Casey, ranked third, is British. Sergio Garica, at sixth, is Spanish, while seventh ranked Henrik Stenson hails from Sweden. Geoff Ogilvy, at eighth, is Australian while Padraig Harrington rounds out the top ten from Ireland. Then you have former world number one Vijay Singh, who’s from Fiji or Retief Goosen from South Africa.

Now, some would say that the allure of an Olympic gold medal wouldn’t mean as much as a victory in a Major for most golfers. Some ask, would Sergio Garcia, who has never won a major, rather win a gold medal or the British Open? There is some truth to that, but I don’t think it would be a determining factor. After all, tennis and basketball are both popular Olympic events, and both of those have prizes outside the Games that outstrip the gold medal.

With the already highly diluted pool of Olympic events, one could also argue that the IOC should be much more selective in what sports are granted admission from now on. However, I maintain that if pistol shooting and synchronized diving are allowed in, then golf should be as well. It may not have the popularity of soccer or baseball, but people still care about golf. Imagine how cool a sight it would be to have Tiger Woods standing on top of the podium as the first ever golf gold medal winner.

There really isn’t any logical reason why golf shouldn’t be included. It’s popular, it’s easy to identify with, it’s international, it’s got a ready-made and easy to understand format, it has a number of household names and no shortage of breathtakingly beautiful venues from which to choose. Here’s hoping the IOC makes the right move and inducts a truly magnificent sport into its ranks.