Golf Channel's Olympic Announcement Coverage

Golf Channel featured a pretty extensive roundup on the golf-in-the-Olympics announcement, and as you might imagine some interesting things were said. There were a few highlights, starting with Tim Finchem's appearance alongside Brandel Chamblee and Kraig Kann.

Finchem said this "will go down as a turning point for the game from a growth standpoint" and that "we're on a nice trajectory globally with golf" and "countries are going to spend a lot of energy to grow the game."

Finchem also believes this will "legitimatize, if we even needed it, golf as an athletic sport. It's truly an athletic sport."

And finally, golf in the Olympics "puts us on a stage that demonstrates the global diversity of the game. No longer will it be viewed as an elite sport," and this will "catapult the sport upward." He said the "next forty years are going to be golden age of golf globally."

As for the courses in Rio, Finchem said they have "some decent courses, not at the level to challenge these guys" and that the Tour "may build a course in partnership with the other federations."

Kann chimed in that he was envisioning a "Nicklaus design, Palmer Design, Player Design, Woods Design…" Finchem was gone so he didn't have to touch that one.

A few moments later they threw it to Inga Hammond and Adam Barr, who talked about the potential worldwide sales of "clubs, shoes, balls," and the "potentially enormous market for an industry that needs good news right now."

He also cited Brad Klein's article which suggested a private developer might bear the risk of building what Barr called "one of these mega complexes" and a "big course to handle the big players," and floated Donald Trump's name.