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
Now that Rio has selected a site for the Olympic golf course, Around The Rings interviews the head of golf's IGF, Antony Scanlon about the state of golf's effort for 2016. Lots of safe answers, starting with this question about the choice of Rio as an unfortunate moment for golf.Thanks to reader Rob for this ATR report (subscription required) that Rio Olympic officials made it official: the 2016 course to be used for the first Olympic golf competition since 1904 will be a new one on a site in the city. This hasn't been much of a secret, but still the first official acknowledgement from the organizers of the direction and location.
Organizers also chose the occasion to announce the stage for golf’s first Olympic tournament since 1904, a new course rather than one of the two private 18-hole courses already in existence in Rio.
“Now the masterplan of the different sports competitions is finalized, so we know where every sport will be for the Games in 2016,” Felli told ATR.
“We believe the course is going to be a key legacy for Rio as it’s going to be in the middle of the Barra zone like most of the Olympic Village.”
You can just imagine what the architects backstabbing each other to get the job will think of this. For Immediate Release:
2016 Olympic Golf Tournament: Itanhangá Golf Club Board of Delegates Approves Plan to Host 2016 Olympic Golf Tournament, Garners Support of Pelé
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – May 4th, 2011 – During its monthly board meeting on Sunday May 1st, 2011, the Itanhangá Golf Club board of delegates authorized club president, Arthur Porto Pires Jr., to proceed with the club’s plan to host the 2016 Olympic Golf Tournament. In a letter addressed to Peter Dawson, president of the International Golf Federation (IGF) sent via e-mail on April 21, 2011, Mr. Pires expressed his club’s desire to host the 2016 tournament. “The choice of Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympics is a just reason for Brazilians to celebrate and an opportunity for us at Itanhangá to have our premises considered by [the] IGF and the Olympic Committee to host the golf competition,” said Mr. Pires in the letter.
Itanhangá Golf Club is one of two existing golf clubs within the city limits of Rio de Janeiro that is under consideration to host to the 2016 tournament. After extensive analysis Itanhangá has emerged as the only existing club with the necessary space to host a championship tournament of this scale. Itanhangá Golf Club encompasses nearly three hundred picturesque acres centrally located just minutes from the Olympic Village. The club features two courses totaling twenty-seven holes (an 18-hole tournament course and a 9-hole practice course), a sprawling grass driving range, and an extensive clubhouse area with a spacious modern locker room facility.
The 18-hole tournament course will require minor improvements including the addition of approximately six hundred yards in order to adapt the course to the contract requirements of the IGF and International Olympic Committee (IOC).
600 yards...minor?
A number of course design professionals including representatives from the IGF have visited Itanhangá and have confirmed the course’s tournament potential subject to the necessary improvements.
Oh they just want the work!
An initial survey completed by the club has shown that these improvements can be funded through the club’s share of tournament commercial operations revenue and will not require a large expenditure from the government.
In his letter to Mr. Dawson, Mr. Pires highlighted Itanhangá’s track record of hosting professional golf tournaments. “Itanhangá is consistently chosen for major Brazilian and international events for its world-class, though not overly difficult layout, and its spectacular natural setting and beauty,” he said in the letter. The European Tour chose Itanhangá to hold their first Latin American event in 1999, and the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has made a yearly tour stop at Itanhangá since 2009.
In addition to providing a major championship caliber venue, Itanhangá’s Olympic project entitled “Olympic Dream Itanhangá 2016,” promises to leave a lasting social legacy on the local community while promoting interest in the game of golf in Brazil. “In light of the other alternatives that have been suggested for the tournament including the costly construction of a new municipal course on an sensitive wetlands area, Itanhangá felt obligated to offer a solution that is socially, fiscally, and environmentally responsible,” exclaimed Mr. Pires.
An ubylined AP story says Brazil's only public golf course is under threat by an eminent domain grab to build a new highway to ease traffic.An unbylined AP story looks at the circus that has become the race to land the Olympic golf course design bid.
Robert Trent Jones Jr. visited Brazil this week and secured a spot in the race to build the course, joining a field that includes Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman and others.
You know, I don't want to be cruel, but...Seve?
"The game of golf is in Brazilian hands," said Jones, who formed a partnership Wednesday with retired Brazilian golfing great Mario Gonzalez to vie for the Olympic course design work.
Nice touch. I was wondering when someone would sign Gonzalez up!
Uh, I was able to confirm a 1953 Argentine Open win for Mr. Gonzalez. I wasn't sure if it was 52 or 53. How the memory fades.
"We have dozens of designers interested in this course, the international reaction has been great," said Paulo Pacheco, the Brazilian golf confederation's vice president of marketing. "I think it's even possible that one of these designers will offer their work free of charge just because of the importance of having their name associated with this historic tournament."
Just remember that when they charge you a $1.5 million shaping fee!
**I pulled out my handy copy of Daniel Wexler's wonderful Book of Golfers. He desribes Mr. Gonzalez as "the greatest player ever produced by Brazil," having first won the Argentine Open in 1940, played in three Masters and having captured eight Brazilian Open titles. He was born in 1923.
Literary looper Colin Byrne writes from Shanghai on the state of golf in China and among the many interesting observations, he reminds us that in China golf is still very much a niche sport for the rich, but there is hope that the Olympic movement will help expand interest beyond a select audience.
I spoke to Michael Wong, who is in charge of developing Chinese junior golf. One of the early initiatives was to get talented juniors to hit a shot to the 17th hole at Sheshan during the pro-am for the tournament. We were all impressed by most of the swings these youngsters made in front of the professionals. Their progress since its conception four years ago is already evident; the tee they were playing from was farther back this year and the hole is a long carry over water.
The chances are these young hopefuls come from a wealthy background. With a membership at the exclusive Sheshan Golf Club costing over 1.6 million yuan and with 500,000 yuan (€177,191) being a pretty normal membership fee, there are not too many citizens from the fields in the market for these clubs yet. But there are initiatives being made to reach out to the less well off.
Without it sounding like an altruistic effort on behalf of the developers in China, there are plenty of courses being built at personal expense. Even though there is a moratorium on course building, in true local fashion courses are still developing. There are 600-700 courses already built and that will double in the next five years. They somehow estimate by then 10 million Chinese will play the game.
Just be reassured that if your boss or spouse was a little hard on you today, imagine the phone call Gary Van Sickle and Jim Herre will get from Ty Votaw for ripping golf in the Olympics and the "contrived" architectural pairings vying to design the Olympic course in Rio. Regarding the design race that currently has Nicklaus-Sorenstam competing (in the press) against Norman-Ochoa.
Herre: Guess the Tour feels it needs star power for marketing purposes, but both choices feel like contrived, made-up alliances of convenience.
Reiterman: Agreed. Who's next? Tiger Woods and Yani Tseng? Phil Mickelson and Paula Creamer?
Van Sickle: Andy North and Jan Stephenson?
Mike Walker, senior editor, Golf Magazine: Jack and Annika, no question. Nicklaus has done more to grow the game internationally than anyone, and Annika's position in the women's game is unmatched. We're not going to pretend this commission is about the quality of the golf course, right?
Van Sickle: Silly us.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
