Corrected: Only Top Four Top 15 Americans Would Have Made 2012 Olympic Golf

There is a catch in the Olympic qualifying that I forgot about when posting this item last week but which Garry Smits got right in a post updating the status of golf in the Olympics with a list of the men and women who would have qualified this year had London included golf.

The key takeaway that might surprise people: the top 15 in the world golf rankings qualify with no more than four players per nation. That means only four Americans would have made it even though there are eight in the top 15 (Tiger Woods, Webb Simpson, Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner).

In light of the controversy of world champion Jordyn Wieber not qualifying for the gymnastics all-around due to a similar rule only allowing a certain number of athletes from a country, I wonder if we are headed for a situation like it in 2016?

Leaving London 2012

After a quick vacation I took in the festivities in London 2012 and had a fantastic time. Despite the various boondoggles and controversies--of which there are many currently festering--the city is functioning well and the one event I was able to get into--beach volleyball--was absolutely fantastic, with an energetic crowd, stunning (temporary) venue and close matches.

Before boarding, a few quick thoughts:

- Golf is going to have to step it up to compete with the other sports for attention. Sadly, the current 72-hole stroke play format ensures it will get little attention and after watching the sensitive dynamics between teammates in beach volleyball and in other sports, we are completely blowing the Olympic opportunity by not showing the world that there is no more fascinating, intelligent, emotional, dramatic and beautifully awkward sport than golf when played with a teammate under Olympic pressure. So Tiger, since you helped influence this format, could you help influence its undoing now? Please?

- The empty seat fiasco, laid out beautifully by James Lawton in the Independent today, is as bad as you'd suspect. Tickets were difficult to get and for everyone here who tried and failed, or for visitors like me, it's insulting to see so many empty seats when you'd be willing to hand over good money to see an event. I'm less annoyed by the extensive dignitary seats going unfilled than I am by the large blocks in normal seating that went unsold. Most galling was turning on the BBC to see Caroline Wozniacki play at Wimbledon on a beautiful Saturday evening against a Great British athlete in front of maybe 1/3 the capacity of centre court, a session I tried to buy tickets for multiple times. Imagine how the residents who struck out must have felt.

-I will miss the papers terribly. The Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent and the tabloids are pulling out all the stops and while the coverage online is super and a must for your Olympic reading enjoyment, there is nothing like starting the day with a beautifully designed newspaper full of great writing and photography.

-The BBC here is remarkable. The coverage is extensive, easy to find and lacking many of the pomp that Americans seem to love and sports fans get annoyed with. But the jingoistic homerism really undoes their credibility, with the low point coming Sunday night by showing announcer reaction to a third place performance in women's swimming. NBC may be pro-American, but I don't think we'll ever see a replay of Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines rooting on someone to win a medal!

Cheers!

If London 2012 Had Included Golf...

The fields would have looked like this, according to Ryan Ballengee in a Golf News Net post.

The men, with a whopping eight Americans and reaching to 334th in the world, and the woman going all the way to 446. Now the seeding in the match pool play would b...oh sorry, there I go again. 

The World's Golfers Embracing The Olympics, Will America?

The rest of the world seems pretty excited about Olympic golf--thrilled in some cases like Wozilroy (as Derek Evers explains with an eye-opening quote from Graeme McDowell about Rory's struggles.

But Americans still seem averse to getting excited about 2016. Maybe this GolfDigest.com slideshow of past Olympic golf will get folks in the mood. Or maybe not.

Perhaps it's the format, perhaps it's the amount of time between now and then, or maybe they just haven't experienced the brilliance that is the Olympics. And now, there will be an added twist to get Americans excited: NBC's promotional efforts.

Open Championship Not Expected To Have Significantly Different 2016 Date

Nick Rodger talks to R&A head honcho Peter Dawson about the 2016 Open Championship announcement involving Troon, and gets some clarification on the likely date during the Olympic year.

"The condition was pledged that no major golf event – men's or women's – would clash with the Olympic Games in 2016," explained Peter Dawson, the chief executive of the Royal & Ancient. "That will be the case. Just exactly how the schedule will pan out to make that happen is still under discussion. The Open will definitely take place before the Olympics, as it normally would be.

"The question is, with the juggling that has to go on in August to keep the pledge, does that have a knock-on effect? We're still in discussion. It will definitely be in July but it might be a week earlier."

"There are Nationwide Tour guys who can't do that with two good legs and plus-handicap."

David Uchiyama with the story of Jordan Thomas, one amazing sounding person who also happens to be a golfer. He lost the lower half of his legs in a boating accident.

Thomas used a driver, then a 7-iron and two-putted for par on the hole, which plays 495 yards from those tees.

Only about 5 percent -- maybe less -- of the golfers in this country could accomplish that feat with those clubs. Even fewer could do it with Thomas' handicap. He lost his legs below the knees in a boating accident almost seven years ago.

"It's amazing, really," said Bear Trace assistant professional Heath Pendergraft. "I can't imagine having prosthetics and being able to transfer weight and being able to move the right side through the ball.

"There are Nationwide Tour guys who can't do that with two good legs and plus-handicap."

Thomas has aspirations of making the 2016 Paralympics Games in Rio.

Assuming he can find time for golf this summer while doing work for his foundation.

"I'm going on a road trip to California; then I'm going to Costa Rica for three weeks for an international business school trip. I'm going to Iceland to see a friend, then Germany to see a friend," Thomas said. "Then I'm off to Nepal to hopefully open up a prosthetics lab in Katmandu."

Update on 2012-05-24 05:01 by Geoff

**Jordan was nominated for CNN's Heroes:

AP: Rio Has No Contract With 2016 Golf Course Land Owner

AP's Tales Azzoni reports that a court has ordered the city of Rio de Janeiro to hand over the contracts it has with the landowner of the 2016 Olympic golf course property. City officials responded by saying that no such documents existed.

The city said it hasn't signed any contracts for the golf course because it will be a private undertaking. It had publicly announced earlier this year, however, that it made an agreement with the land owner to have the course built on it. It said it would alter some of the building requirements in the area and, in exchange, the land owner and a construction company would pay for the $30 million course.

"The golf course is an undertaking exclusively private, which will be developed by the Rio 2016 Committee," the mayor's office said in a statement.

Local Olympic organizers said they expect the contracts for the golf course to be finalized by the end of June, and that the city wouldn't be directly involved even though it was responsible for choosing the land and facilitating the agreement.

And this...

But the lawyer for the company disputing the ownership of the land, Elmway Participacoes, said Friday he wants to suspend any activity in the land until a decision on the property is made. Sergio Antunes Lima Jr. said the city doesn't have the right to make any deals to build on the land before a judge decides who owns it.

“Rio 2016 is not aware of any changes to the ownership of the land"

AroundTheRings.com follows up with Rio 2016 spokesman Carlos Villanova who doesn't seem to feel anything has changed with the golf course property selected for the first Olympic golf course.

“Rio 2016 is not aware of any changes to the ownership of the land where the City Hall intends to build the golf course,” Villanova said in an email to Around the Rings.

“We fully trust that City Hall will meet the deadlines for the planning, construction, and operation of the course.”

AP reported last Friday about a land ownership dispute that threatens the course's creation and construction.

The Olympic Golf Impact, Russian Edition

An unbylined Russian Television story pretty much lays out the scenario that International Golf Federation organizers and Olympic golf boosters predicted about including the game as part of the Olympics. Namely, the push to develop players in places that traditionally have not funded or paid attention to golf. Like Russia.

One of the main prospects is Vladimir Osipov. He is just 16, and would turn 21 at the Rio Olympics.

The Games will see the return of golf, after just two appearances, early in the 20th century. But to make an Olympic dream come true, players need to dig deep.

“Of course I want to go to the Olympics,” he said. “But, to give myself a chance, I need to be high up in the world rankings. So I'll have to turn pro soon and start racking up ranking points, and improve my game.”

For this season, the youngster is setting his sights on the European Amateur Team Championships in Portugal in September, and then probably the World event.

The Russian national side are fresh from a training camp in America and local trainers praised their progress as a unit.

But the sport's officials are after strong performances, not just words of approval.

“To go to the Rio Olympics, golfers will need to rocket up the world rankings,” Nikolay Afanasiev from Russia’s Golf Association said.