Zach Johnson Is Irritated By The Olympics Putting A "Kink" In Golf's Major Championship Schedule

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I give Rory McIlroy a bit of a pass on his only-watching-Olympic-sports-that-matter jab because (A) he at least supported Olympic golf at one time, and (B) may have been annoyed by Peter Dawson's comments the day prior. But now Rory can send Zach Johnson a big thank you note!

Why would the veteran Johnson unwisely go down the "matter" path that so scarred McIlroy and caused the lad unnecessary grief? Especially after two sensational weeks where the golfers who went to Rio reported emotions ranging from life-changing to mentioning new perspectives on their sport?

Anyway, let's let Zach dig this hole with the NY Post's Mark Cannizzaro, taking copious notes and also sharing positive views about Olympic golf from many others.

“Oh, I didn’t watch golf,’’ Johnson said. “I’d rather watch the sports that should be in the Olympics. I’d rather watch the athletes who train for four years for that one week. I’d rather watch swimming and diving, track and field — the athletes that are relevant for one week. All of our [golf] athletes are relevant 24-7, 365. I just don’t see the need for golf to be in the Olympics. Same thing with basketball. It’s relevant all the time. LeBron James, Kevin Durant? They’re relevant all the time.’’

"All of our [golf] athletes are revelant 24-7" eh?

Speaking of relevance, I'm fairly certain that Zach could have walked through the Olympic Village with his caddie wearing a name-labeled bib, the Claret Jug in hand, all while singing the Star Spangled Banner, and still would have been guessed by most as a masseuse for the USA sailing team. But go on...

Johnson said he’d rather see amateur golfers play in the Olympics if golf continues to be an Olympic sport.

“Make it a team format and give amateurs and college players, who don’t have the relevancy [pros do] a chance,” he said. “That would have been more interesting. For those guys who played, any time you can represent your country, it’s a pretty awesome endeavor. But we have so much international golf as it is. And the fact that it put a kink in our schedule this year irritates me. To mess with the four tournaments that matter most [the majors] because you’re at the Olympics, I’ve got a strong, strong disdain for that.’’

Those pesky Olympics putting kinks in schedules with their millions and millions of viewers messing with the relevancy of golf's majors.

Johnson comments speak to a level of distance from the situation that sadly reinforces the pre-Games view of grossly-out-of-touch and spoiled PGA Tour players. Perhaps he'll address his views in more depth during his pre-tournament press conference. Wait, those are for relevant golfers only, sorry.

Roundup: You Can Really Feel The Love For Olympic Golf

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So moving to see so many coming around after months of moaning about golf in the Olympics.

As we get ready to not talk about it much until next fall when votes take place (and we are overcome with ResetCup fever!), I offer you an assortment of the glowing takes on the last two weeks in Rio.

Jaime Diaz in this week's Golf World:

In essence, Olympic golf has become the closest thing to the Ryder Cup: Worth it to play for free. A place—especially if it becomes, as expected, more of a team event—to deepen friendships. Something worth sacrificing for and not to be missed. Amid the distortions that come with professionalism, commercialism and politics, on the field at least, a chance for pure golf amid what aspires to be pure sport.

Linda Baker of Reuters in a piece that'll get picked up in plenty of places, declares golf a success and pushes the format-tweak narrative.

"I would like to see a two-man team. I think you should still have an individual medal, but I would like to see a team format to make things more exciting," said the United States' Stacy Lewis, who ended the women's tournament tied for fourth.

The golf industry pushed for the sport's inclusion to help boost participation, which has been slipping. Organizers were hoping that the newly built golf course designed by Gil Hanse could also help boost the game in Brazil.

For Gary Player, the legendary golfer who has been a vocal proponent of golf in the Olympics, the tournament had succeeded in cementing golf's status as an international sport. He tweeted at the conclusion of the Olympics, "Fantastic for six #golf medals going to six nations - Britain, Sweden, USA, South Korea, New Zealand & China... #growth."

I don't know about the growth part, but having a medalist from six countries is another one of those you-can't-script-it sidebars to the Rio golf experiment.

Bob Harig at ESPN.com on a post-Games narrative of athletes who contended or medaled: lots of new friends or old friends coming out of the woodwork.

"The reception globally has been astonishing,'' said Mark Steinberg, who is Rose's agent. "The reception he is receiving locally within the UK, it's astonishing to even Justin who is wearing a gold medal around his neck. He just can't believe the amount of people who are reaching out to him that maybe don't sit and watch golf on a Saturday and Sunday.

"Maybe you attribute that to the Olympic rings. Anything you want to attribute it to. It's been an astonishing appeal. It's just so great for these guys to get that type of response.''

Steinberg also represents Kuchar, and his phone has been ringing with potential endorsement possibilities for both medal winners. He also had three other players in the men's tournament.

Speaking of Kuchar, who didn't even know the format a week prior to the Games, he received a hero's welcome and is taking his bronze everywhere, writes Tim Rosaforte.

Kuchar kept it together on the Olympic Golf Course and flew home on Aug. 15 to a hero’s welcome. There were more than 100 people greeting his plane when it landed at Malcolm McKinnon Airport on St. Simons Island in Georgia. Chants of “Kooch!” and “USA, USA!” rang into the night when the Olympian appeared at the door of the plane, wearing his bronze medal.

If only Big Kooch had been around to see it, as he was when Matt won the Players Championship in 2012 and the WGC-Match Play and the Memorial in 2013. Or if he could see his great-grandsons, Cameron and Carson, show off his dad’s medal last week on St. Simons Island, whether it was going table to table at the local Starbucks or the grillroom at Frederica Golf Club.

“They got a big kick out of doing that,” Kuchar said. “They love checking it out, showing it off. I’ve pretty much kept it with me wherever I’ve gone. Most people want to see it and hold it.”

The Golf.com gang hailed all things Olympic golf, with a couple of strong points, including this from Josh Sens:

Personally, what I enjoyed most was seeing the women get an equal share of the spotlight as the men, playing on the same venue, with the same stakes. It was another reminder of how much fun the best women players are to watch. And unlike the men, pretty much all of the very best were actually there.

And this from Alan Shipnuck:

That we didn't miss any of the players who weren't there but, based on the longing in their texts and tweets, they know they missed out on something special.

Michael Bamberger wrote about the women's game getting a profile raise, even if weather wiped out chances of an even larger audience on network coverage.

I couldn't tell you what the man's level of interest in women's golf was before the Olympics. Whatever it was, now it's deeper.

Teddy Greenstein reviewed his Rio stay and highlighted the various sports covered for the Chicago Tribune, including this from golf's fourth place finisher:

Of all the wisdom dispensed over the last 17 days, my favorite came from a fellow Olympic newbie: Thomas Pieters, a Belgium golfer who played at Illinois.

Pieters described radios going off and cameras clicking during his backswing but shrugged off all the distractions, saying: "You deal with it. It's the Olympics. It's special."

Steve DiMeglio interviewed the IGF's Ty Votaw, instrumental figure in the entire Olympic golf pursuit and execution, who continues to credit players and caddies for their effort. But the crowds, which could have been disastrously small in Rio given attendance at some venues, brought an intangible element to both final rounds that should not be discounted.

Q: What stood out in Rio?

A: “The reception of the crowds for both the men’s and the women’s competitions. And the way the men and women embraced the Olympic experience. It was phenomenal to see their interaction with other athletes, their experiences in the Olympic Village, and how they responded to the crowds and the crowds responded to them, in a country that doesn’t have a lot of golf history.”

What also stood out? The ticket price was kept absurdly low, something golf tournaments looking for energy should keep in mind more often.

Iain Payten of the Daily Telegraph covers all things Rio with Australian team leader Ian Baker-Finch, whose most famous golfers (Day, Scott, Leishman) passed on Rio. He would would like to see a format tweak either way based on his three weeks in Rio.

Changing the format will help too, believes Baker-Finch. Instead of individual strokeplay, an element of a teams format will be attractive to athletes who play for themselves every week.

“I hoped all the way through the process that they’d go to the World Cup format of a singles and a doubles,” he said.

“I think you’d have had a stronger representation in the mens had theire been a two - man team. So still 72 holes but let’s have a singles and have a team, let’s add up the two scores.”

Payten's piece also includes this:

US RATINGS FOR GOLF MAJORS v OLYMPICS
Masters final round – 12.4 million
Olympic final round – 8.8 million
US Open final round – 5.4 million
PGA Championship final round – 5.3 million
British Open final round – 4.9 million

Women's Olympic Ratings Wrap: Nice Final Day

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In spite of a forecast-driven tee time change that killed chances for a lengthy NBC look-in, viewers tuned in to Golf Channel for the medal day of women's Olympic golf. Hopefully some international numbers will trickle in at some point like they did with the men.

For Immediate Release...

Golf’s Return to the Olympics Posts Record Viewership for Women’s Golf
 
Golf Channel schedule for the Olympics featured the most live coverage ever for a women’s golf event (34.5 hours), which was bolstered all week with an additional 35.5 hours of live news coverage with Golf Central’s Live From The Olympics and Morning Drive. In total, Golf Channel dedicated 124 hours of programming to this week’s women’s golf competition and as a result, generated record-breaking viewership. Wrap-up of Men’s Final Round is below.
 
Saturday, August 20: Final Round

Golf Channel’s coverage of the conclusion of the Olympics’ women’s final round is the highest-rated and most-watched in more than six years for peak 90-minutes of coverage from any women’s stroke-play event on cable in any daypart, including primetime (11:15 am-12:45 pm ET; 0.54 US HH rating, 803,000 average viewers), dating back to the 2010 Women’s British Open on ESPN (8/1/2010; peak 90 minutes, .59 US HH rating, 824,000 average viewers).

Coverage peaked with 924,000 average viewers (12:15-12:30 pm ET), the most-watched peak finish for any women’s golf event on cable in more than six years since the 2010 Women’s British Open on ESPN (8/1/2010; peak finish, 1.275 million average viewers)

Despite leaders teeing off earlier than plan on the account of potential bad weather, average viewership for the final round (691,000 average viewers) was +77% vs. Friday’s comparable 3rd round coverage (390,000 average viewers)
 
Friday, August 19: Round 3

Golf Channel’s afternoon coverage of the third round is the most-watched third round in more than five years for any women’s stroke-play golf event on cable in any daypart, including primetime (Noon-3:36 pm ET; 0.28 US HH rating, 390,000 average viewers), dating back to the third round of the 2011 Women’s British Open on ESPN (7/30/11; 476,000).

Golf Channel’s Friday afternoon coverage of the third round was up 212% among average viewers and up 180% for U.S. household rating vs. the same Friday in 2012 opposite the London Games.
 
Thursday, August 18: Round 2

Golf Channel’s second-round coverage is the highest-rated live weekday round of any women’s golf event (at the time, now second behind Olympics Round 3) in more than two years in any daypart, including primetime (Noon-3:14 pm ET; 0.23 US HH rating, 316,000 average viewers), dating back to the second round of the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst (6/20/14; 0.44 U.S. HH rating on ESPN2).
 
Wednesday, August 17: Round 1

Golf Channel’s coverage tied as the highest-rated round one of any women’s golf event in 2016 (Noon-3:54 pm ET; 0.17 US HH rating, 217,000 average viewers), matching the rating for coverage of the ANA Inspiration Major Championship, which aired in primetime (3/31/16, 7:12-9:12 pm ET).

In general ratings news, New York's Eric Levit considers the fall in overall Olympic viewership numbers by the most important generation to have ever live, and wisely notes that even they get it wrong sometimes.

Women's Olympic Golf Set Up For Grand (And Starting Earlier For Weather) Saturday Conclusion

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After years of wondering about possible medal scenarios, we're set up for a fun finish to the women's Olympic golf, assuming the thunderstorms hold off and a few more fans show up. Friday's high winds produced some stellar golf and separated the leaderboard.

Steve DiMeglio sets up the concluding day, where Inbee Park looks to add to her Hall of Fame career with a gold medal, and who knows, possibly her last significant appearance on a grand stage. American Gerina Piller, still searching for her first pro win, played what she called a possible career round to get herself in the final group and in medal contention.

Park will also be pursued by Lydia Ko, vaulted herself into the medal race on the back of an 8th hole ace, her first ace ever in competition. Rex Hoggard on Ko's hopes to medal and face off with Inbee Park.

Here is the video.

China's Xiyu Lin previously made the first hole-in-one in women's golf history on Friday at the same hole, which, I can say having seen it in person, is no easy hole location to get to.

Bob Harig explains what happened to first round leader Ariya Jutanugarn, who was +12 thru 13 Friday before WD'ing with an injury.

Aditi Ashok was hanging in nicely through 10 but the winds and a tough stretch of holes took the Cinderella story out of contention. However, India's 18-year-old representative has nothing to be ashamed of.

Marianne Skarpnord found herself in a DJ-oscillate situation and it was all caught on camera along with the conversation with an official, all picked up thanks to an aggressive audio technician. Hoggard explains what happened and why the ruling went the way it did.

An unbylined IGF story ID's all of the family members caddying in the women's competition, and it's a long list.

Speaking of caddies, Mike Clayton is on the bag for Australia's Su Oh, who posted a 66 and moved to within five strokes of the bronze position. An unbylined Australian Olympic Committee story includes quotes from Oh mentioning her golf architect looper.

Here's the Golf Channel lowdown on Saturday's tee times, which were moved up due to an ominous afternoon weather forecast. :

-Live final round coverage of the Women’s Olympic Golf competition gets underway at 6 a.m. ET on Saturday morning on Golf Channel, immediately following Golf Central Live From the Olympics, airing from 5-6 a.m. ET.
 
-In order to avoid potential inclement weather in the afternoon, groups will be going off split tees on Saturday (No. 1 and 10), with the leaders beginning their final round at 7:39 am ET. Barring any playoffs, the expectation is for golf to conclude around 1 p.m. ET, with the medal ceremony immediately following.

Here is the latest on ratings:

Golf Channel’s second-round coverage is the highest-rated live weekday round of any women’s golf event in more than two years across all dayparts including primetime (Noon-3:14 pm ET; 0.23 US HH rating, 316,000 average viewers), dating back to the second round of the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst (6/20/14; 0.44 U.S. HH rating on ESPN2). Additionally, the Olympics round two is the most-watched Thursday of women’s golf coverage since round one of the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open on ESPN2 (6/19/14; 437,000 average viewers).

Olympic History For Brazil! First Slow Play Penalty

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You know Victorial Lovelady had to be taking her sweet time if they IGF official on the case, Grant Moir, was going to give the first slow play penalty in Olympic history to a host country participant.

After a dreadful pacing the first day that could be attributed to nerves, a tougher course and the overall slow play problem that plagues the game, players were warned to pick it up in round two. The difference was noticeably early on, but according to Alistair Tait, Brazil's Lovelady did not do enough after a 10th hole warning.

Lovelady, playing in the company of Tiffany Chan of Hong Kong and Swiss amateur Fabienne In-Albon, already had been warned for wasting time on the 10th hole. She was adjudged to have picked up a second bad time for taking too long on the par-4 15th, turning what should have been a par into a bogey.

Lovelady suggested she had to back off some shots because home country fans unaware of golf etiquette were making noise at the wrong times, prompting her to back off.

As Tait notes, some will see inequity given that the men were playing at a consistent 5 hour clip each day, which would seem to put a dent in the traditional player excuse that size of field is the problem. The field is more than half the size of the usual major golf event.

Shoot, even green speed can't be blamed, as the Rio Olympic course surfaces are in the 11-11.5 range, a good foot slower than a typical PGA Tour event or major.

Women's Olympic Golf Is Here: First Round This And That

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They've been all in from the beginning. Player enthusiasm, a Commissioner who cleared the schedule and an intense desire from some nations to establish themselves through Olympic golf brings a potentially fun mix to the women's competition.

Olympic Broadcast Services has the action all day--glorious weather to start, so glorious the smells have even subsided--so check your local listings. In the U.S., Golf Channel will be on for nearly nine hours, starting with the opening 7:30 am (6:30 am ET) tee shot by Brazil's Miriam Nagl. According to this unbylined IGF story, she's proud to follow in the foosteps of Adilson da Silva, who gave such an inspired performance for the host country.

Not surprisingly, Lydia Ko is excited about playing for Olympic gold this week. With her ball striking and scrambling ability, she's an obvious favorite. Steve DiMeglio of USA Today on Ko's Monday media chat.

“I love my sleep and I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten up at 7 a.m. to watch someone else play,” Ko said about her alarm going off Sunday so she could go to the golf course and watch Team New Zealand’s duo of Danny Lee and Ryan Fox in the final round of the men’s tournament.

Inbee Park, the top ranked Korean and only Hall of Famer in the field, sounds more and more like her playing days are finished. Will this be her last start in a significant event? She wasn't saying, but she also made clear what her priorities are, as I file for GolfDigest.com.

The American contingent gave a great impression in their pre-Olympic press conference, and Bob Harig details the thoughts of Stacey Lewis, Lexi Thompson and Gerina Piller coming into the competition. (All three felt good about the course, Rio and the chance to go to the Closing Ceremony Sunday.)

Lexi Thompson's dad Scott is on her bag this week, Rex Hoggard reports.

Bill Plaschke notes that these games have been dominated by the American women, which would bode well for golf if golf ever made sense.

Jay Coffin on the room LPGA Tour officials made for the Olympics, with this nice zinger from Commish Mike Whan.

“I have a difficult time looking at somebody who is 25th on the money list and say ‘great job at the Olympics but now you’re 29th on the money list,’” Whan said. “That didn’t seem like it was going to play for us.”

Will there be another gold for Britain? Catriona Matthew and Charley Hull are strong medal contenders and are inspired by Justin Rose's win.

7 things you need to know about the competition from Golf Digest.

Your leaderboard watching can be done here.

Here is an IGF overview of the tee times.

And the groupings along with other info at the official Rio website.

This & That After Justin Rose's Gold Medal Win

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As the women prepare to take center stage, everyone at the Rio Olympic Golf Course is still buzzing about the men's competition.

If you're still interested in the men's side of things, here are just some of the stories that caught my eye in the aftermath of golf's return to the Games...

Golfweek.com with an excellent wrap up of the social media posts by players who teed up in Rio, starting with Justin Rose's Tweet. "Best week" would make for a relentless drinking game.

Rory texted Justin Rose a congratulations, Alistair Tait reports.

“I did get one from Rory. Absolutely. He said he was very, very proud, and said he was pulling for me. He said he could see how much it meant to me and congratulated me. He was very complimentary. Obviously, he watched.

“He made the point that he really wants golf to succeed as an Olympic sport. He has some opinions that are very personal to him, and that’s fine, but as a whole, he’s very, very much behind golf succeeding in the Olympics.”

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune says Sunday's finish earned golf its place in the Games.

Doug Ferguson with notes, including how a two-man aggregate team competition would have ended, how Jason Day watched one hole of the Olympics and Rickie Fowler's quick departure to go accrue points in North Carolina.
 

Rose won the gold but dropped two spots in the FedEx Cup points standings because the PGA Tour couldn't take a week off. Shoulda played the Deere Sir Justin!

Mike Johnson with Rose's clubs that won the gold.

Jay Coffin with Rose's thoughts on how he will display the medal, possibly.

Matt Kuchar will have to pay taxes on his USOC bonus money, oh, and he fell asleep with the bronze around his neck. Alex Myers with the explanation.

Henrik Stenson could be understood for feeling less excited about silver than Kuchar is about his bronze. Sam Weinman explains at GolfDigest.com.

I really hate dwelling on the number of golf pros who lacked the vision or love of sport to make the journey here. But, we must give them their due!

Joe Posnanski lets the absentees know that they "blew it" when it came to sitting out the Olympics, an easy thing to do now. Nonetheless, some of the slaps are enjoyable.

Interesting his memo is directed at Jordan Spieth, with others CC'd:

You blew it in two ways. One of those ways has been discussed at length but it remains true – you blew it for golf. It seems that in the countless warnings and cautions and bad omens leading into these Rio Games, you forgot something basic: Just how BIG the Olympics really are. Leave it to USA Boxing coach Billy Walsh, in his glorious Irish brogue, to explain: “There were, what, 40 million people around the world watching Pacquiao-Mayweather?” he asked. “We have 3.5 BILLION people watching the Olympics. Forget everything else. This is the biggest (bleeping) show on earth.”

The biggest (bleeping) show on earth, guys, and you had a chance to be a part of it.

Strong reactions from Nick Faldo and Rich Lerner on Golf Channel's Live From.

Analyst Nick Faldo: “The gold medal is bigger than our game of golf. This was putting golf on the biggest stage in the world, the Olympic Games, where we are just part of it.”

Host Rich Lerner: “This was a fresh breeze that blew right through the sport, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. There were far too many grim press conferences with some young golfers the last couple of months and there was just an awful a lot of negativity. And I think this is about the happiest I’ve seen the sport in a long, long time.”

 

And I explain at GolfDigest.com what happened to Justin Rose's winning ball. You won't believe where it sat for 45 minutes, or where it's headed.

A volunteer assigned to golf finally heard from Rio2016 that she was needed. Unfortunately she was still home in Spain, having never gotten a reply.

ShackHouse 18: Rio 2016 Men's Golf, Spain's Azahara Muñoz

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This week we talk about the exciting Rio men's golf gold medal effort by Justin Rose and his peers. The course, the fans, the fun are all included and we might even talk about House's favorite True Detective.

Even better, the talented and intelligent Azahara Muñoz joined us to discuss her Olympian status. Muñoz has been staying in the Olympic Village with husband/caddie Tim Vickers, taking in various sports and rooting on Team Spain's various teams. She was there for Rafael Nadal's gold in doubles and discusses her first impressions of the Games and the golf venue.

You can follow her here on Twitter.

As always, you can subscribe on iTunes and or just refresh your device subscription page.

Same deal with Soundcloud for the show, and Episode 18 is here to listen to right now!

The ShackHouse Stitcher page.

The Ringer's ShackHouse page with all of the info and links you can dream of.

As always, special thanks to Callaway, The Ringer, Avion and Athlete's Collective, who had me ready with long sleeves for Rio's mosquitos. Only, there aren't any.