"The IGF could’ve instituted a 36-hole cut instead of shortening the tournament."

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Sean Martin takes issue with the lack of an on-the-spot call by the International Golf Federation to prevent a virtual washout day of weekend World Amateur Team Championship golf, but what really scares me about this episode is that it's precisely the kind of thing that they use to justify the dead-on-arrival 72- hole individual stroke play format for the Olympics.

There’s nothing the IGF can do about the weather. But its insistence on emphasizing participation over competition in a tournament billed as a “world championship” has frustrated many players and coaches.

I Have Failed You, My Dear Readers

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Reader Seitz is correct, I missed the best part of Greg Norman's sitdown schmoozefest with Lewine Mair. While I reveled in answers that only an IMG press agent could love while the Shark waxed on about his beef and Presidents Cup arm sling, he lobbed this hanging curveball. Speaking of Lorena Ochoa's involvement in an Olympic design job for the Rio Olympics in Brazil, where Portuguese is the native language.
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Antony Scanlon To Head IGF; Golf's VP Aristocracy Asks, "Who?"

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A real stunner as the International Golf Foundation hires someone outside of the recirculating army of golf executives that looks a little too much like the group of NBA head coaching types who miraculously keep getting jobs (which reminds me, isn't it about time for Hubie Brown and Mike Fratello to get coaching jobs?).
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"I think this is a very functional partnership. I hope we can work a deal."

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Don Corleone? Gordon Gekko? Uh, more like Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam pitching themselves to design the Olympic golf course, should the folks in Rio actually even decide to build a new course.

Doug Ferguson reports on the hard sell from Jack and Annika to the IGF:

Nicklaus said one potential site already has been identified. If selected, he said he and Sorenstam would collaborate on the strategy of each hole -- Nicklaus from championship tees for the men, Sorenstam with women in mind.

Boy, I'm giddy already at the possibilities. And just think, they could do it all on the computer screen in Florida!

"I'll be surprised if they don't select us," Nicklaus said. "But I'm sure other people are interested."

Oh the Don issues a strong hint!

If a golf course is to be built, the IGF would pick the architect, but the host committee in Rio would pick up the cost, much like building a stadium or arena for other sports.

Fay confirmed that IGF members -- representing all the major golf organizations -- received the Nicklaus-Sorenstam letter.

"It was a very nice letter," he said. "When you get a letter from two Hall of Famers, that will get a lot of attention. But there definitely will be a process to go through. Sometimes there's a feeling that you don't want to Americanize the process. We've been very respectful of the fact, as we should be, that it is an international game."

As I've said, the smuckering up, politicking and backdoor dealing to design the course will be far more entertaining than the Olympic competition itself. Then again, at 72-holes stroke play, that's not saying much.

"Of the 10 Englishmen in the world 100, I reckon that maybe two have benefited from the elite squad system."

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In the context of Olympic golf and how we hear that funding will arrive to create academies in various countries to breed future medal winners, check out Alistair Tait's look at the small role the English Golf Union has played in the development of the outstanding Englishmen currently in the world top 10.
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Olympic Golf After The Winter Olympics

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Suffering from Vancouver Olympic withdrawals tonight, I was forced to consider what made the last two weeks so special. And while the many storylines were wonderful and set up quite beautifully by NBC for a mass audience, it's those once-every-four-years thrills provided by various unique competitions that has me more convinced than ever that barring a complete re-imagining of its format, golf in the 2016 Olympic games will be a complete and utter failure.
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