Olympic Wrap - Men's Edition

I'll gladly apologize for the 24-hour delay in sharing my thoughts about the Men's Olympic competition, the result of your humble blogger's participation in the Met. Open Pro-Am at tony Glen Oaks Country Club.  I might have more on that, depending on how the photos turn out.

But I actually think that the delay in getting to the keyboard might sharpen the analysis..... or not.  My feelings about it all are quite conflicted, so the arc of this post will be determined on the fly....

As we often do here, we'll riff off of that Shackelford guy's thoughts, appropriate in this case because he was there.  Geoff was quite ecstatic in immediate aftermath of the final round, with this at his blog:

What a stellar day at the Rio Olympic Golf Course, and while the folks behind it and the 

The medalists surrounded by leaders of the five families.

players might have dreamed up the best case scenario that unfolded, the chances of things playing as well as they did were pretty slim.

But as I note in this piece for GolfDigest.com, Justin Rose's gold, Henrik Stenson's silver and Matt Kuchar's bronze proved to be a great moment for so many behind the scenes people. While I could only touch on a few of them, here are a few observations from a great day.

One thing that's immediately apparent is that those that were there have been universally giddy about that which they saw.  That's very much a good thing, but we can likely agree that it falls into the necessary but not sufficient category.  

Geoff gushes further in the item linked in the excerpt:

Everything about the Olympic Golf Course’s finishing stage was designed with a grand conclusion in mind. But of the key figures quizzed about Sunday’s conclusion, all admitted they couldn't have dreamed up what actually transpired in Rio. 

Years of planing paid off in a scene that felt different than a major championship. Not better than a major. Just different. More gratifying maybe. 

The joyful antics of the 59 protagonists all week, capped off in the dusk light by Justin Rose’s final birdie, just left everyone feeling good about the week. Rich Lerner said it best on Golf Channel’s Live From coverage: “This is about the happiest I’ve seen the sport in a long, long time.”

Geoff has some great vignettes in his piece, capturing what seems to be genuine emotion at the climax of it all....  I particularly like the fact that only one caddie sought out Gil Hanse for advice, and you'll readily guess whose bag he was carrying.  I know, probably just a coincidence....  But he's even got Steiny crying, so go figure....

And if you can't identify those squeezing into the picture above, he helpfully names names:

But before the medal winners left the scene, they were ushered in front of the International Golf Federation and friends for a group photo. Included were Votaw, Hanse, USGA Executive Director Mike Davis, PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua, IGF director Anthony Scanlon, former European Tour Chief George O’Grady and PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem. They even squeezed in course superintendent Cleverly. 

The scene was more chaotic than cinematic. More like a film crew getting their picture with the A-listers. But to anyone who knew what it took to get golf in the Olympics and perhaps even keep it there for a long time, it’s an image that will define a week of golf whose impact is yet to be determined. Stay tuned for the sequel. It starts Wednesday with the world’s best female players on the very same stage.

I just have to say that "sequel" is not the best choice of words here, and I say that as someone that had higher hopes for the women's competition than the men's....  it's a different animal that should stand on its own.

But much went right this week, including but not necessarily limited to:

1. They got the desired close horse race between worthy competitors settled without the necessity of an anticlimactic playoff;
2. The players seemed to genuinely enjoy their experience there, and were adept at communicating that enthusiasm;
3. The course performed beautifully, and they deserve full credit for selecting Hanse over bigger names;
4. The weather cooperated entirely;
5. There were exactly zero rules issues during the week, quite an accomplishment in this day and age.

Obviously that first item has folks very relieved, as the organizers essentially drew to an inside straight.  What were the odds, given the dramatically depleted field)  that the two most accomplished players (I know an arguable case can be made for Bubba, but bear with me) would battle neck-and-neck to a one-shot win?  And I certainly didn't find it anywhere near as exciting as Geoff, but we can stipulate that Justin and Henrik can put on a good show....  But did any of you think this had the drama of Sunday at Troon?

I found this Tour Confidential give-and-take to be revealing:

1) The first Olympic golf competition in 112 years ended in dramatic fashion Sunday afternoon with Justin Rose edging Henrik Stenson on the back of a sensational pitch shot on the 72nd hole. The fourth round didn’t lack for excitement, but did golf prove that it belongs in the Olympic program?

Alan Shipnuck.: Oh, hell yes. Three world-class players -- Rose, Stenson and Kuchar -- put on a heckuva show on Sunday on a track that has instantly established itself as one of the best tournament courses in the world. But the revelation was Sunday's crowd. A theme throughout these Olympics has been the disappointing fan turnout, but all 15,000 tickets were sold for Sunday, an incredible achievement given Brazil's lack of golf tradition and the course's distance from the tourist center. And those who showed up were loud and fun. It was a big-time atmosphere.

Josh Sens: Think back on some of the most riveting golf events of your lifetime. Did this competition rank anywhere near your top 10? Your top 20? Your top 50? No disrespect to the deserving champion (his genuinely impassioned reaction to his win was the highlight of the four days for me) or to any of those who competed, but the lack of electricity was palpable in the crowd. The Olympics is supposed to reside somewhere near the summit of a sport. This event never got much higher than base camp.

You can read the other responses, and I'll candidly admit that the remaining answers skew a bit more positively than the 50-50 split in my excerpt.  But this is no random poll....these are the writers of Golf Magazine.  Yanno, GOLF Magazine..... Their profession is to write about GOLF.  It's like Hillary winning the vote in the faculty lounge at Harvard 60-40..... It's a win, but it's also quite the under-performance as well....

Golf remains to me an extremely awkward fit for the Olympics, and it may be worth reminding folks why that is:

1. The best players rarely win - The greatest players of all time win less than 10% of their events, and can anyone think of a comparable among other sports?  It makes the every four years problematic, and this is why the limitations on field side might be as important as the competition format.  In swimming and track, it's common for athletes among the ten or fifteen best in the world to not even qualify for the Olympics, but that rarely affects the outcome.  In golf, when you don't have all of the top players (we could argue about how deep you need to go), you don't have a viable competition.  
2. Golf doesn't need the Olympics - Was it women's softball that was dropped to add golf?  Don't confuse me with facts, but isn't that quite the contrast?  I think this is perhaps a point that our sport's leaders need to reflect upon, as their desire to participate in the larger event led them to present our game in quite the unflattering light.  They got lucky that the show turned out well, but will they understand that they served their own needs perhaps more than the game's.
3. I'll believe it's a crisis.... - One of the smiling faces in the photo above is our favorite whipping boy, Commissioner Ratched.  That self same Commish ran an event that competed for viewers and media attention with the Olympics, so why was he allowed to show his pearly whites?  And of course he'll run an event that competes with the ladies this week....  I was told that the were critical to the future of our game?
4. The IOC is a criminal syndicate -  Seriously, dogs, fleas...you know the rest.  The IOC does not have golf's best interests at heart, and any assumption to that effect is naive.  Matt Kuchar and others spoke emotionally about playing for their country, and that's profoundly moving.  But turn to NBC and you'll hear the announcers talking about how athletes in other sports essentially sell themselves to the highest bidder.... Wondering about that Qatari beach volleyball team, yeah, they're not actually Qataris.... Sorry, should have given you a spoiler alert.
5. The IOC has other priorities - Remember, the 60-person fields were a result of the limitation on beds available in Rio.... seriously, think about that.  On the one hand I get it, the Olympics are Trumpian yuuuugee.  But if we can't have a reasonable-size field, what do we have?  And also remember that the IOC couldn't understand why the players needed caddies.... again, I get it, they're not golfers.  But are we sure we can make this work in the context of their environment?
6. The calendar is unrelenting - The summer Olympics inevitably come at a difficult time on the calendar, the more so given that the Ryder Cup is now in even years.  There's way too much golf burning the players and the viewers out, and none of the organizations will yield on the schedule.  How am I to work myself into a fevered pitch for the FedEx Cup in an Olympic year?
7. Signal to Noise - My instincts tell me that golfers are sports fans but sports fans are not necessarily golfers or fans thereof.....  and Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt create a lot of noise.  Shack is crowing about the ratings, but talk about noise?  Best morning ratings since Tiger played in Dubai, really?  Anyone happen to look at the weather most of the country was experiencing?  But the gist of this argument seems to be that those watching the Olympics on NBC left their TV's on when coverage switched to golf....  isn't that kind of a low bar?
8. The public teet - The was perhaps the most dispiriting part of the week for me, the endless crowing about public funds being shoveled at golfers.  Is it too much to ask, in this era of public exposure of the depravity of the Russian and East German athletic programs, that we at least not simply assume that the involvement of unsavory governments in sports is actually a forced for good?  I recommend this post for those that are open to a different perspective.  If you don't like government health care and government motors, why are you so sure you'll like government golf?

So, if we must have golf in the Olympics,van we not at a minimum endeavor to make it somewhat interesting?

This guy takes a first cut at it, with some worthy contributions....Though age limits is simply bizarre.  First, the obvious:

Team format

This addition seems to be universally desired across the media and fan landscape, and rightfully so. A major complaint heading into Rio was that the Olympic format didn’t differ from the usual play see on the top world tours. As team competitions are a rarity in golf, implementing this facet adds a uniqueness to the event, fueling the desire to tune in.

Conversely, the Rose-Stenson showdown illustrated the benefits of stroke play. Bringing in a team component doesn’t have to come to the detriment of the individual 

competition. Similar to college golf, the Olympics can hold a concurrent aggregate total to determine a team winner.

By the way, that last bit is wrong.... the aggregate stroke competitions qualifies teams for team match play, but it's that latter format that has benefited college golf greatly.  I don't have the time to dive into all the challenges related to this, but that's the holy grail and it would rock.  We need to resolve field size and fairness issues, but if you want excitement, that's the ticket.

The fallback is obviously some kind of aggregate stroke competition, and that's certainly better than what we have.  By the way, do you care who would have won?  It turns out that friend of the blog Wally got it oh so wrong, which likley explains that rather dramatic fall-off in texts as the week progressed:

GOLD -- Sweden and the United States: 20 under

Sweden: Henrik Stenson: 270, 14 under; David Lingmerth: 278, 6 under

United States: Matt Kuchar: 271, 13 under; Bubba Watson: 277, 7 under 

SILVER -- Great Britain: 16 underJustin Rose: 268, 16 under; Danny Willett: 284, even

BRONZE -- Spain: 15 under Rafa Cabrera Bello: 276, 8 under; Sergio Garcia: 277, 7 under 

4. Thailand: 13 underKiradech Aphibarnrat: 276, 8 under; Thongchai Jaidee: 279, 5 under 

5. Argentina: 12 underEmiliano Grillo: 277, 7 under; Fabian Gomez: 279, 5 under

I don't see Belgium there, Mr. Light.  And yes, that U.S. team gets an asterisk, given it's the low two of four.  

In need of wrapping this up, my favorite commercial of the week:

Yes, it's been done before, but I just love that it's done at all....

My favorite quote of the week came from Matt Kuchar on Thursday, when he was asked after his round whether he had seen any wildlife on the course.  His answer was, "Well, I saw an Aphibarnrat."

Yes, you very rarely see one of those in captivity...