Would Someone Sit To Get Tiger To The Tokyo Games?

That’s the question posed by Karen Crouse, looking ahead to the 2020 Olympic Games and Tiger’s spot just outside the final qualifying number (four Americans inside the top 15…he’s fifth).

With the money at stake and possibility this is the last chance for Woods to qualify due to playing less and accumulating more World Ranking points, could one of the four before him opt-out for the good of the games?

At the 2004 Australian swimming trials, the superstar Ian Thorpe, the world-record holder and reigning Olympic champion in the 400-meter freestyle, was disqualified from his heat for a false start after he lost his balance on the blocks and fell into the water. The top two finishers in the final qualified for the Athens Games, and scores of Australians soon were publicly calling on Craig Stevens, the runner-up, to relinquish his spot to Thorpe.

There was no danger that Stevens or Thorpe would miss the Games; both had qualified in other events. But a month later, during a televised interview for which he was paid a six-figure sum, Stevens announced that he was ceding his spot in the 400 freestyle to Thorpe, who went on to successfully defend his Olympic title.

For the moment, Woods still controls his fate. After his victory last year at the Masters, he described the Olympics as “a big goal,” but he admitted “getting there and making the team is going to be the tough part.”

And without Woods this time around, the Olympic men’s competition will be a tougher sell. In 2016, there was the novelty of golf’s return and a venue built for the Games. This time, they arrive on the heels of the last major, are playing well outside of Tokyo where temperatures are expected to make things miserable, and are playing a country club course that hardly screams inclusivity. Oh, and the format is flat on arrival.