Olympic Golf In Trouble?

A few stories are hinting at a possible protest vote and overall uncertainty about golf's "universality" by IOC members. Lawrence Donegan thinks some of the recent defenses from Jacques Rogge for golf's finalist slow may not bode well, whiel Owen Gibson believes the concerns may cost golf it's shot in the 2016 games.

Some IOC members retain concerns about whether the Olympics would be the pinnacle of achievement for golfers ahead of the four majors, while others argue that it does not score well on the criterion of "universality" given the expense and difficulty of developing golf courses in Africa and parts of Asia.

I don't know where they'd get any ideas like that before they've even gotten the estimate from Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam to build the official Olympic course, The Bear and The Swede. And with 60 player fields contesting glorified WGC events that has excited positively no one, how much less universal can you get than that?

And, let's hear from Peter Dawson, who heads up an all-male golf club that'll admit a woman by 2016. Maybe.

Dawson admitted some IOC members had raised concerns about whether the Olympics would represent the pinnacle of the sport but said they had not been widespread. "We have been able to allay that fear by emphasising the broad support among the world's top players. There is only one Olympic tournament for every 16 majors," he said.

And it's still just a boring old 72-hole stroke play event with a goofy world ranking-based format for entry. Zzzzzzzzz.

And then there's this protest vote bit, which is so IOC:

Some IOC members have privately voiced disgruntlement that they will not be offered a choice of sports from which to pick and have speculated that golf might suffer as a result of a protest vote.

But Craig Reedie, the British IOC member who was part of the programme commission that evaluated the seven sports, said: "The executive board clearly feels it is giving the members the guidance that was requested of them."