The Only Gold Medal And Golf's Weird Olympic History

Ryan Ballengee has done a nice job tracking down history related to golf's two tries in the Olympic games prior to this year and it's worth filing this one away as pre-Rio read.

This was fun from the 1904 games in St. Louis:

The team contest started the program, with three, 10-player teams competing over 36 holes. However, Day 1 didn't count toward the Olympic contest. Rather, it was a money match. The Trans-Mississippi Golf Association team bested the Western Golf Association and the United States Golf Association teams to win the day's Nassau.

However, Day 2 was for the Olympic medal. WGA leader Chandler Egan, who won the U.S. Amateur earlier in 1904 and again in '05, switched his team's lineup around, leading to a win and the team Olympic gold medal. The TMGA team finished second and the USGA team finished third.

Right after the end of the team competition, Glen Echo hosted a driving contest in front of the club, adjacent to the 18th green. There's some conflict as to whether or not it was a long-drive contest.

Lyon, who was a cricket star before taking up golf when prodded why he didn't play a "man's sport", made it all the way to the final, meeting up with Egan, who, at barely 21 years old, was the star of the week.

The final match was played in rainy conditions, softening Glen Echo and forcing Egan to press off the tee to compete with Lyon's prodigious length. Despite Lyon setting a new course record in the morning 18 with a round of 77, the pair remained in a close match until the 33rd hole, when Egan pulled his tee shot into a water hazard, leaving Lyon 2 up with three to play. Another poor tee shot on the 34th hole opened the door for Lyon to close out the match, which he did with a par, to win by a 3-and-2 count.

Long drive! Love it! Get on that Ty! Chop, chop!