Unplayable Lies: Olympic Opening

Golf balls are in the air in the barra da tijuca, and the golf course looks pretty spectacular.... The players? Well, still waiting for those that are more recognizable...

The great Jaime Diaz is by now on site, and he's writing up a storm.... First to opine that Olympic golf deserves the benefit of the doubt:

Still, I’m betting golf will do fine and that these Olympics will be remembered fondly.

The reason: Because they are the Olympics. In spite of all that’s wrong with the modern games—corruption, PED use, rampant commercialism, IOC permissiveness—somehow, the Olympics always end up worth it.

The unifying force of a global gathering intended to present people at their best is singularly powerful. There is no more vivid vehicle of the human spirit than sport. Whether participating or simply witnessing, the Olympics bring out our better natures. No other spectacle provides so much visual poetry. Think of the Spanish archer whose perfectly placed arrow lit the flame in Barcelona in 1992. Or Muhammad Ali raising the torch with a trembling right arm in Atlanta four years later.

OK, that's a decidedly upbeat take on the Olympics, and seems to have been forged by Jaime's attendance at the 1968 Olympics. If you were next to the long-jump pit when Bob Beamon landed, that's gonna leave a lasting impression for sure...

Then safely on terra firma in the barra da tijuca, Jaime declares the event a success:

Now that I’ve been at the Rio Olympics for two days and seen the golf venue and felt the vibe, to quote Ben Crenshaw, “I have a good feeling about this.”

Not about the prospects of one of the four U.S. men winning gold, although as Rickie Fowler said, they are the only team with a chance to sweep the podium.

But simply that golf in the Olympics will be a success. And really, for only one, but essential reason: The players who bought in and came to Rio have seen their expectations exceeded.

Hmmm...do we think Jaime is aware of the concept of selection bias? Obviously the guys that are there have bought in but, while necessary, is that sufficient?

Be cause it seems as though much of the buzz relates to stories along these lines:

Rickie Fowler marched in the Opening Ceremony and took photos with Michael Phelps.

He and teammates Matt Kuchar, Patrick Reed and Bubba Watson attended swimming on Tuesday to see Phelps’ double gold-medal night. Fowler saw Phelps afterward to congratulate him and posted a photo to his Instagram account.

These are things that only happen because golf is included in the Olympics.

“It’s inspiring to watch fellow U.S. athletes do well, compete, get a medal, gold, whatever it may be,” Fowler said. “And to see what Phelps has done over numerous years and to see what (Katie) Ledecky is doing right now and has done, like I said, it’s inspiring.

Remember the old adage about Nicklaus and Hogan? Do we think Phelps will go watch the golf?

Shack has a Loop item on the unique clubhouse:

While Rio’s minimalist, pesticide-free course could help golf’s international image, it’s the eco-efficient clubhouse that might be this week’s surprise trendsetter.

Wednesday’s rainy Rio weather allowed the Olympic golf course’s newly minted structure to show off an innovative design aimed at grabbing rainwater and sending it to an underground storage tank. If need be, the tank can then be accessed by the course irrigation system.

Do tell:

Their Brazilian studio, Rua Arquitetos, won a design competition to design the clubhouse nearly four years ago. Architects Évora and Rivera envisioned upside down tree-shaped structures to provide shade over a grassy courtyard area surrounding modernist buildings. The effect is aesthetically provocative compared to the traditional golf building and far more efficient by reducing air-conditioning costs for the structures.

"We decided to design a building arranged as a comfortable balcony, dissolving its limits between the landscape, volume and users," they said.

Fair enough, but that may be the only clean water in Rio....

It's not a time to rain (too much) on their parade, so I'll just share this bit of optimism from Bob Harig and Henrik Stenson:

But a lot of the discussion surrounding that has missed the point as it relates to the

Olympics. When the men's Olympic tournament begins Thursday morning a few miles from the hysteria of the Olympic Village, the hope is that a new audience will be exposed to the game -- predominantly in places where an Olympic medal causes young people to dream.

"I think it already has helped grow the game and it will,'' said Henrik Stenson, the reigning Open champion, who is from Sweden. "Being part of the Olympic Games, I think golf has real federations, and golf in certain countries have already been getting funds and have been starting to look at it differently.

"I think it already has grown the game. Us here playing is going to be viewed on the world stage, and that's going to be a different thing for the players who are now 14 and sitting back home watching this. I never saw my golfing heroes play in the Olympics, but you're going to have youngsters in different parts of the world watching us play, and they most likely are going to dream about being here one day in the future.''

Is that really what this is all about? Feeding at the public teet....

Want to know more about that alarmingly-large rodent on the golf course? Of course you do....

Oddly cute to some, but horrifying to others. This is a capybara, the largest rodent in the world, capable of growing up to a whopping 150 pounds. They are found throughout South America, and live near bodies of water.

This makes the Olympic Golf Course at Rio an ideal landing spot for the rodent, where multiple sightings have been reported, and been the subject of a variety of shrieks across social media.

Cute? Must be an acquired taste...

Keely Levens has a slideshow of the varied and sundry golf bags, which are largely as you'd expect: