Olympic Golf - The Night Of Long Knives

Is Jordan Spieth the luckiest man on the planet, or what?

Let's dive in to what Shack, in his header, calls Jordan and Rory "fumbling the torch"....  Shall we go go in the order of their world rankings?

Jordan held his Open Championship presser on Monday, and gave a heartfelt performance, though one that I felt was strangely odd and exposed his curious manner of coming to decisions.  

Spieth made very clear his decision not to compete in the 2016 Olympics was made

personally, without much influence from peers, and was based strictly on his loosely defined "health concerns," which he referenced six times throughout the press conference. 

"I just felt this was the right move for me. Not everybody's going to understand," Spieth said. "Nobody's going to understand what it's like in my shoes…I believe I'm making the right decision for myself for my future and for those around me."

Let's set aside the substance, and question why he left his withdrawal announcement for Open week.  That seems to this observer to be an unforced error, the significance of which can only be determined after we see whether there's any hangover in his play.  But it's a downer at the start of what should be a joyous week in our game, and Jordan's inability to make a decision seems troubling...

Now the headline of Spieth's presser was that it was the hardest decision of his life, the tone deafness of which Shack deftly exposes:

Spieth, who had called this a fifth major, signed with Olympic presenting sponsor Coca Cola to be part of its campaign, and who genuinely seems determined to become a sporting legend, could never quite disclose the reason he waffled right up to the inopportune moment of announcing his decision at a major championship (Alex Myers with Spieth's comments here.) 

More disconcerting was the assertion that this was the hardest decision of his life, paramount to a college choice. While many around the world would envy someone who has never faced a decision more difficult than deciding to play in the first Olympic golf competition in 104 years or whether to go to UT or USC, the gravity suggests Spieth isn't quite prepared for the modern limelight that is so harsh. Trying to crack a joke about carrying the torch didn't help.

I'd be pleased to sell the young man a clue for a rather modest sum....  Not a hanging offense, for sure, but oddly off-key for a young man typically credited for his openness and  instincts.  And this just came across oddly:

Spieth was most adamant that "health concerns" for him is a general concept. The Zika virus that many other top players have cited as reason for not playing in Rio is just one of many for Spieth, who refused to clarify other reasons or share any medical advice he received.

There were some strange back-and-forths there, where he accused reporters of putting the "Z-word" in his mouth, but equally adamantly refusing to explicate his sense of the health concerns posed.  I get that he didn't want to trash the event and credit his attempts to remain supportive of Olympic golf, but after his early enthusiasm one expected a more transparent explanation....

While we're dissecting Jordan's decision-making skills, his presser was notable for the nature of the questions:

During his British Open press conference, he was asked 13 times about the Olympics. Only four other questions were asked. Just as the microphone was being pulled away from him Tuesday afternoon, Spieth offered an audible wiping of his hands. 

"Is there a tournament this week?"

You know what would have been a great question?  When did you arrive this year as compared to last year?  Because my understanding is that he was in Scotland last weekend, though did not play at Castle Stuart.  So, he arrived many days earlier this year as compared to last year, when there was that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the calendar year slam.... Isn't that more interesting than the Olympics?

But Jordan's Olympic decision is already down the rabbit hole, because Rory McIlroy seemingly made a decision to become the poster child for pampered, self-important modern golfers.  Here's the money quotes from curmudgeonly James Corrigan:

“Honestly, I don't think it was as difficult a decision for me as it was for him [Spieth],” Mcilroy said. “I don't feel like I've let the game down at all. I didn't get into golf to try and grow the game. I got into golf to win championships and win major championships, and all of a sudden you get to this point and there is a responsibility on you to grow the game, and I get that. But at the same time that's not the reason that I got into golf. I got into golf to win. I didn't get into golf to get other people into the game. 

“But, look, I get where different people come from and different people have different opinions. But I'm very happy with the decision that I've made and I have no regrets about it.

Now, before we get to reactions, let's focus on context, as Corrigan explains:

In the sometimes cossetted world of golf, McIlroy’s candour was extraordinary; he is

nothing but honest. But then, it was tempting to see McIlroy’s extraordinary comments as anything other a response to Peter Dawson, the president of the International Golf Federation, which is overseeing the sport’s comeback after a 112-year absence, opining here on Monday that the game’s elite had “overreacted” to Zika by withdrawing. 

As well as shining a light on golf’s credibility as an Olympic sport, McIlroy also criticised the drug policy on the professional Tours for not blood-testing and, hence, not being stringest enough if it wants to become a long-term Olympic sport.

As for Dawson, perhaps overly cautious would have been better phraseology, but of course he feels that way....

But any light cast on drug testing in golf is helpful, as this adder to Corrigan's article explains:

The Tour’s failure to comply fully with the World Anti-Doping Code is in stark contrast to the attitude of its European counterpart, forcing players to deal with two different systems depending on which event they are playing in. The most recent Wada testing figures, from 2014, show that 507 tests were carried out on golfers in 2014, the lowest of all summer Olympic sports. Most of those were undertaken by national anti-doping agencies, with the International Golf Federation conducting only 21, just five of them out of competition.

Reaction was swift and almost uniformly negative, including this from Brandel Chamblee:

"I think it's likely that, at the end of his career, he'll regret that moment more than any other moment in the history of his career," Chamblee said. "It is an insult to everyone who goes and plays in the Olympics." 

Chamblee was far from finished, lambasting McIlroy for his perceived insensitive, careless comments. 

"Initially, when he choose not to do that (play in the Olympics) he cited the Zika virus, but in effect today, he said I'm not going, I'm not playing, I'm not watching because it doesn't matter," Chamblee said. "That is an insult to everybody that has spent time to further this game for its inclusion in the Olympics."

I'm mostly on Brandel's side here, though those folks deserve the insults....  We'll circle back, though first a lone dissenter, Shane Ryan.  As is often the case with Supreme Court decisions, there's far more of interest in the dissent, which also has the benefit of some joyous snark:

Rory doesn't seem to understand that the phrase "grow the game" has become a cult-like mantra in golf, evoking the unfulfilled historical promise of "people's champions" like Arnold Palmer, and future visions of poor people flooding municipal golf courses, leaving behind empty ghettos, barrios, and slums. Never mind that actually growing the game in any significant way is an implausible fantasy in 2016. Never mind that golf just witnessed an era dominated by an insanely popular and iconic champion who won at a rate that will probably never be duplicated and also happened to be black—aka the "perfect storm" of broad appeal—and still the game did not grow. Never mind that golf's two defining traits are that it costs lots of time and money in an age when young Americans have less of both, and depleted attention spans. Never mind that Olympic golf has become an embarrassing farce and is going to be euthanized by the IOC in 2017 and would have succumbed to that same fate even if Rory went to Rio, shot four straight 59s, cured Zika and revealed himself as the living embodiment of the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the city. 

Never mind all that—Rory committed the cardinal sin of being flippant in the face of scripture.

I like the cut of that man's jib, so you'll want to read the whole thing.  He also makes an important point, thereby saving me the effort, that for Rory the Olympics were a uniquely proposition from the get-go:

2. The very concept of the Olympics has been an anxiety nightmare to Rory for years. His country has treated his decision on whether to suit up for Ireland or the U.K. as the final word on the centuries-old conflict between Catholics and Protestants, putting undue political pressure on a man who plays professional golf for a living and has done his damnedest to maintain a facade of religious and political neutrality in a place where the failure to do so could have dangerous consequences—as his Catholic great uncle learned, years ago, when he was gunned down in front of his family for the crime of living in a Protestant neighborhood. This man has no great love for the institution of the Olympic Games.

Let's just agree that no one can understand Rory's relationship to both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom....  

But Dear Reader, I've played a bit of a trick on you, as I've not yet shared the worst of Rory's gratuitous nonsense:

“But, look, I get where different people come from and different people have different opinions. But I'm very happy with the decision that I've made and I have no regrets about it. I'll probably watch the Olympics, but I'm not sure golf will be one of the events I watch.”

When pressed which events these would be, he replied: “Probably the events like track and field, swimming, diving, the stuff that matters.”

The stuff that matters?  I can't do better than Jason Sobel on that one:

Unlike Spieth's delicate attempt to convey golf's relevance in the Olympics without his participation, McIlroy stuck a knife in the back of the event and twisted it. Hard.

Here's my take on the matter, in which incredibly insightful and nuanced words will come out of both sides of my mouth.  

• Does Rory Have an Obligation to "Grow the Game"?  How can one argue otherwise?  Now, I'm completely OK with the concept that it's not his primary focus or that his contribution will be his play and comportment, but he derives a healthy living from the game and should be prepared to give back to it....  

• Would The Olympics Grow Golf?   I loved the Shane Ryan excerpt above that so amusingly skewered the Grow the Game mantra....  The fact is that Olympic Golf was ill-conceived and ill-executed, so while Peter Dawson might believe it to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the science is hardly settled.  And while Dawson is often presented as motivated by the purest of concerns, that fact si that he needed a sinecure as he exited the R&A.....  

• Can I Speak Candidly?  That would be a resounding No!  While it may seem far-fetched that Rory could have been any harsher, he did actually hold back his criticism of the format and location.  For instance, the building of a golf course in a country that can't treat raw sewage might be considered as tone-deaf as anything that came out of Rory's mouth.... On second thought, strike that "might"...

• I'll Believe It's a Crisis.... The great and all-powerful Oz is holding an event that conflicts with the exact dates of the men's Olympic competition.  All the major golfing organizations have been unwilling to make the slightest sacrifice to the cause, but Rory should?  Can you see why he might be just a wee bit pissed?

• But Why Go There?  But while I completely get Rory's frustration, there's a responsibility that comes with the opportunities he's exploiting.  There are parties reminding us that Rory's candor is a redeeming quality, but I see it more as a hissy fit than brutal honesty.  The latter would call out the Peter Dawson and Tim Finchems of the world for their failure of foresight in rushing to get a deal done with the IOC on their schedules, and not understand that golf needed to put on a good show for it to prove helpful.  

My take, a pox on them all....