When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Say goodbye to strengthen, active and platform and say hello to sharpen.
The Commish unveiled a new word Wednesday at Liberty National and the world is a better place for it.
I suppose I was incorrect to suggest this would only shine a light on the Official World Golf Ranking. Looks like the women's Rolex Rankings will be scrutinized based on how it will add to the struggle to fill out the Olympic field.
This is from a reader who was curious about the Olympics and the proposed 60 player fields.
Using the current eligibility format as proposed by the IGF, you can go down the top 500 names on the women's Rolex Rankings (as of Aug. 13, the date of the IOC announcement) and not have enough players to get a 60-player field. You only get 58.
Of the top 100 players, only 26 get in.
Currently, only the top two from a country can get in. They'll probably need to take the top three eligible players to avoid digging into the AJGA Tour to round out the women's field.
Nice pun in the official release headline.
Golf Makes Cut as IOC Executive Board Recommends Two Sports for Inclusion in 2016 Olympic Games
IOC’s Final Vote on adding sports to take place this October in Copenhagen
Berlin, Germany (August 13, 2009) – Golf is one step closer to being reinstated as an Olympic sport following the International Olympic Committee Executive Board’s recommendation to add golf and rugby sevens to the 2016 Olympic Programme.
The IOC’s final vote on whether to add as many as two sports will take place on October 9 at the 121st IOC session in Copenhagen, Denmark. While the membership of the IOC is not obliged to follow the Executive Board’s recommendation, the Board’s decision is based on an extensive review process of seven candidate sports that has included formal presentations, the submission of a Detailed Questionnaire and responses to questions raised by both the IOC Programme Commission and the IOC Executive Board. The IOC Executive Board announced its decision today following a meeting in Berlin, Germany.
“We’re obviously thrilled that the IOC Executive Board has recommended that golf should be added to the 2016 Olympic Programme,” said Ty Votaw, Executive Director of the International Golf Federation Olympic Golf Committee, which has been coordinating the Olympic bid. “We believe we have presented a compelling case as to why golf should be added and we look forward to the IOC’s final vote in October.”
Golf was last part of the Olympic Games in 1904, when the United States and Canada were the only competing nations.
Throughout the process, the IGF has stressed the unprecedented unified support by international golf organisations – including a commitment by those that conduct major championships to adjust their summer schedules to ensure that their respective tournaments won’t conflict or compete with the Olympic golf competition – as well as the resounding support of golf’s top-ranked male and female players.
Player support has been highlighted in various ways, including short films that have been shown to the IOC Programme Commission and Executive Board, a customised brochure detailing the bid that includes player quotes, a letter campaign in which international players sent the brochure with a personalised letter to IOC members from their respective countries, the participation by Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam as Global Ambassadors on behalf of the IGF’s bid, and the appearance by Sorenstam and 2010 European Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie at the final presentation to the IOC Executive Board in June in Lausanne, Switzerland. “We made it clear from the outset of the bid process that we absolutely needed support from the world’s leading players to have the best chance of being selected for the 2016 Olympic Games, and we have demonstrated that support,” said Peter Dawson, chief executive of The R&A and joint secretary of the IGF. “We also stressed the united support from the leading golf organisations throughout the world, as well as the universal nature of golf, with 60 million people playing the sport in more than 120 countries.”
The IGF’s Olympic Golf Committee, which originally included The R&A; European Tour; USGA; PGA of America; PGA TOUR; LPGA and the Masters Tournament, has been expanded to 19 organisations. It now also includes The Asian Tour; Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour; Canadian Professional Golf Tour; Japan Golf Tour Organisation; The Ladies Professional Golfers Association of Japan; Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association; Korean Professional Golf Association; Ladies European Tour; Ladies Asian Golf Tour Ltd; PGA Tour of Australasia; The Sunshine Tour and The Tour de las Americas.
The IGF has 121 member federations from 116 countries with the most recent additions of the Guam National Golf Federation and Cambodian Golf Federation.
In terms of Olympic competition, the IGF has proposed a format of 72-hole individual stroke play for both men and women, reflecting leading players’ opinion that this is the fairest and best way to identify a champion, mirroring the format used in golf's major championships. In case of a tie for either first, second or third place, a three-hole playoff is recommended to determine the medal winner(s).
The IGF has recommended an Olympic field of 60 players for each of the men's and women's competition, utilizing the official world golf rankings as a method of determining eligibility. The top 15 world-ranked players would be eligible for the Olympics, regardless of the number of players from a given country. Beyond the top 15, players would be eligible based on world ranking, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15.
Under this proposal, and based on the current world rankings from both the men’s and women’s games, at least 30 countries would be represented in both the men’s and women’s competitions, from all continents.
So they're trying to dispel the stereotype that golf is a rich, soft, doughy white man's sport and taking Monty along for the final IOC presentation? That's got Peter Dawson written all over it!
Golf Stars and Leaders Will Make Final Presentation to IOC Executive Board for Sport’s Inclusion in 2016 Olympic Games
IGF Olympic Golf Committee Expands by 12 to 19 Organisations
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA (June 10, 2009) – International Golf Federation Global Ambassador Annika Sorenstam and 2010 European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie will join representatives of the International Golf Federation when golf’s final case for inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games will be made to the International Olympic Committee Executive Board on Monday in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Sorenstam, who serves as a Global Ambassador in support of the IGF’s effort, and Montgomerie will join Tim Finchem, PGA TOUR Commissioner, LPGA of Japan President and World Golf Hall of Fame member Hisako “Chako” Higuchi, IGF Co-Secretary Peter Dawson and IGF Executive Director Ty Votaw for the presentation. Dawson and Votaw have been coordinating golf’s Olympic bid.
“We feel it is very important for the IOC Executive Board to be able to personally hear from two of the game’s most highly respected players in Annika and Colin,” Votaw said. “We will also be presenting a film featuring 16 of the game’s most prominent players including current World # 1 ranked Lorena Ochoa and Tiger Woods, as well as IGF Global Ambassador Jack Nicklaus describing the compelling reasons why golf should be reinstated as an Olympic sport after an absence of more than a century.“
Golf last was part of the Olympic Games in 1904, when the United States and Canada were the only competing nations.
Ashling O'Connor looks at the possible 2016 Olympic sport add-ons as suits convene on Lausanne for a June 15th presentation to the IOC.
Golf has pledged to field the world's best male and female players in 60-player strokeplay tournaments in each week of the Games, while using the Olympics to dispel its “country club image”. The stars and the sponsors that golf would bring to the Games will be hard to reject.
Yet it is by no means a done deal. Squash still presents a good case for inclusion as it tries to shake its yuppie image immortalised by Wall Street, Oliver Stone's 1987 film about corporate excess.
At the end of the piece, O'Connor lists what the bookies think of each sports chances.
I still say the 72-hole, World Ranking stuffed, prefab WGC-Olympics concept has the bookies down. If only they'd gone with a more athletic, daring and exciting format...ah forget it. At least golf still has the edge over poll pole dancing.
Gary Van Sickle looks at the glorified-WGC nature of the Olympic golf format and says it's not so glorious. Sorry, but this is what happens when you lean on top players and television executives for creative solutions.
76 pages of questions?
IGF Submits Detailed Questionnaire to International Olympic Committee, Constituting Golf’s Formal Olympic Bid
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA (February 17, 2009) - The International Golf Federation announced today that a 76-page detailed questionnaire was submitted on Sunday to the International Olympic Committee Programme Commission, constituting the formal and technical bid to include golf in the 2016 Olympic Games.
The questionnaire sought specific information on various topics relevant to golf's bid, including how golf would be presented if it were part of the Olympic Games and information on golf's worldwide appeal and governance structure. The submission of the questionnaire was the next step in the process set forth by the IOC Programme Commission and followed a presentation in November to the Commission in Lausanne, Switzerland by Peter Dawson, chief executive of The R&A and joint secretary of the IGF, and PGA TOUR executive Ty Votaw, Executive Director of the IGF Olympic Golf Committee.
"We are pleased with the formal bid document, and now look forward to working with the Programme Commission on the preparation of the final report to the IOC Executive Board in advance of our presentation to the Board in June," Votaw said. "We worked diligently to solicit input from the world's leading players and golf organizations to address and finalize a number of key issues contained in the document, including the recommended format for competition."
Recognized as the representative body for golf by the IOC, the IGF is proposing 72-hole individual stroke play for both men and women. Leading players expressed that this is the fairest and best way to identify a champion, mirroring the format used in golf's major championships. In case of a tie for either first, second or third place, a three-hole playoff is recommended to determine the medal winner(s).
There's your buried lede of the week or maybe month.
Golf needs another 72-hole stroke play event like it needs another financial firm sponsoring a tour event.
Oh but it's fair! And it's just like the majors.
Example 90,702 demonstrating golf's lack of imagination rearing its ugly head yet again.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
