Mcilroy somewhat wrong over Olympic golf

[Deleted member 15344]

Totally agree with the second point.
But have to disagree with the first.
Every 4 years it will get more important. Everyone will go next time. And by then there will be the beginnings of a new generation of Golfer who sees it as just part of the calendar. Not dissimilar to the Ryder cup.
It'll have good years and bad years, but it brought golf to a whole new audience which was always the main aim and the IOC like big sports that earn them lots of money.

There is nothing to suggest that it will get more important and certainly not the same as the RC which has been going for decades and already had a place in the calender

The golf calender is a very busy place and is worldwide - they had to move the calender around to fit the Olympics in - remembering that the Olympics is on when the last major of the year is on. Because they moved that major a lot of people who used to take a bit of time of inbetween the Open and the US PGA couldnt this year so just more than likely took the Olympics off because right now it's no better than your average ET or PGA. The players will always prioritise the Majors so numbers will continue to miss the Olympics.

 

[Oohmeoldbacksknackered]

There is nothing to suggest that it will get more important and certainly not the same as the RC which has been going for decades and already had a place in the calender

The golf calender is a very busy place and is worldwide - they had to move the calender around to fit the Olympics in - remembering that the Olympics is on when the last major of the year is on. Because they moved that major a lot of people who used to take a bit of time of inbetween the Open and the US PGA couldnt this year so just more than likely took the Olympics off because right now it's no better than your average ET or PGA. The players will always prioritise the Majors so numbers will continue to miss the Olympics.

Sorry, didn't mean to suggest that it will become as important as the RC - at least not the modern RC (there were times in the 70s where to say it was on it's last legs was pretty close to the truth)

But the RC is the truest form of golf played without huge prize money (I've always assumed tho' that their sponsors rather like it so I don't s'pose the players miss out financially) That's what will make the Olympics similar. They'll be able to play for their country without financial loss, and I think there are some pretty patriotic nations out there - the Americans took a full team, the South American countries just love the Olympics for any sport (look at football...). Rose was into the Olympics from day one - it might have been different if he didn't have a major under his belt. You'll have to ask him. Similarly with our Danny.
I think the Scandie countries gave it full support. And then look at Asia........
There is plenty of support worldwide and once Rory comes on board it's place will be assured for the next couple of generations at least.
You're right, some will prioritise the US PGA but it is far and away the weakest major and I think it's within the realms of possibility that it may well move it's spot once every 4 years - I'd imagine that as a single event the people at the top of the tree in the States would put more pressure on having a strong Olympic team across as many sports as possible - and the publicity surrounding an Olympic Champion, rather than having yet another American winning a home golf major.

The Olympics is more about power and money than it's ever been before, which is why golf was included to start with. Rory will be golf's equivalent to Bolt and everyone will rub their wallets with glee.

(I believe....)

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Sorry, didn't mean to suggest that it will become as important as the RC - at least not the modern RC (there were times in the 70s where to say it was on it's last legs was pretty close to the truth)

But the RC is the truest form of golf played without huge prize money (I've always assumed tho' that their sponsors rather like it so I don't s'pose the players miss out financially) That's what will make the Olympics similar. They'll be able to play for their country without financial loss, and I think there are some pretty patriotic nations out there - the Americans took a full team, the South American countries just love the Olympics for any sport (look at football...). Rose was into the Olympics from day one - it might have been different if he didn't have a major under his belt. You'll have to ask him. Similarly with our Danny.
I think the Scandie countries gave it full support. And then look at Asia........
There is plenty of support worldwide and once Rory comes on board it's place will be assured for the next couple of generations at least.
You're right, some will prioritise the US PGA but it is far and away the weakest major and I think it's within the realms of possibility that it may well move it's spot once every 4 years - I'd imagine that as a single event the people at the top of the tree in the States would put more pressure on having a strong Olympic team across as many sports as possible - and the publicity surrounding an Olympic Champion, rather than having yet another American winning a home golf major.

The Olympics is more about power and money than it's ever been before, which is why golf was included to start with. Rory will be golf's equivalent to Bolt and everyone will rub their wallets with glee.

(I believe....)

But there is nothing to suggest any of that is actually going to happen - none of what you suggest happened in this Olympics and it was the first one which you would think would have them flocking

The PGA maybe the weakest major but it's still a major and they all go to it and it will be the priority over the Olympics - same with the Fed Ex events which are scheduled to happen straight after

The field in the Olynpics will be your typical ET - a couple of star players who want to play the event and then filled with players from all over the place.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

But there is nothing to suggest any of that is actually going to happen - none of what you suggest happened in this Olympics and it was the first one which you would think would have them flocking

The PGA maybe the weakest major but it's still a major and they all go to it and it will be the priority over the Olympics - same with the Fed Ex events which are scheduled to happen straight after

The field in the Olynpics will be your typical ET - a couple of star players who want to play the event and then filled with players from all over the place.

Or we could listen to the Players themselves, McIlroy, Spieth, Day and Johnson all looking forward to 2020 and all stating yesterday it would be in their targets when interviewed by USA today,

 

[User62651]

Or we could listen to the Players themselves, McIlroy, Spieth, Day and Johnson all looking forward to 2020 and all stating yesterday it would be in their targets when interviewed by USA today,

The cynic in me would say 'of course they'll say that' now to keep everyone sweet but come 2020 they may well find another excuse, be that feigned injury/illness or not even be top two picks for their countries, Speith's stock has fallen a lot already from where it was and Day is streaky, Johnson will be oldish (for a golfer) by next time and so many good Amercian players coming through. McIlroy you'd have to say will be a shoo in but Ireland has plenty good golfers too and Rory'll probably get the yips the way he's putting these days so no guarantee.

 

[Robster59]

Thing with the Olympics though is it is every 4 years, in 30 months time will we care?
Justin Rose will, but the greater audience that watched the Olympics?
By then we will have had 8 more majors a couple of Ryder cups and be waiting for the Masters ...

IMO, the olympics works for sports where the medals are seen as the PEAK for that sport, peoples memories fade fast and we will not be counting down to the 2020 games, instead we will count down to the Ryder Cup, The MASTERS, THE US OPEN etc...

IMO that is why golf does not work and sure everyone is chuffed right now, but lets see how much people care in 2 years

You could say the same argument applies to Tennis but you can see how much it means to the players who take part in the Olympics.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

The qualification process will always detract from Olympic golf.

Top 15 in the world, no more than four from any one country and then max of two from any other country.

Not truly a test of the world's best in a sport which has greater depth in elite events than most other Olympic sports. For example early this year Danny Willett might not have qualified for Team GB yet won The Masters, similarly Jimmie Walker and the US team.

If, however, the format was altered to, say, a team event then the Olympic golf would not suffer in comparison with the Majors.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

The cynic in me would say 'of course they'll say that' now to keep everyone sweet but come 2020 they may well find another excuse, be that feigned injury/illness or not even be top two picks for their countries, Speith's stock has fallen a lot already from where it was and Day is streaky, Johnson will be oldish (for a golfer) by next time and so many good Amercian players coming through. McIlroy you'd have to say will be a shoo in but Ireland has plenty good golfers too and Rory'll probably get the yips the way he's putting these days so no guarantee.

And the cynic in me agrees with you and Phil, what I don't understand is, when we see Golf participation on the decline and it seems that the Olympics may of raised it's profile and coukd possibly do it good, why all the negativity?
It's 4 years away and none of us have a crystal ball, it seems some have already who will and won't play.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Or we could listen to the Players themselves, McIlroy, Spieth, Day and Johnson all looking forward to 2020 and all stating yesterday it would be in their targets when interviewed by USA today,

Which is just words - their actions always tell a different story do they not

Sorry but the golf event will always be IMO regarded as a normal tour event which means players will miss it at times to focus on bigger events

Need to look at the format they play to have a chance of growing the event

 

[Spear-Chucker]

There's been discussion for a while among the tours administration and the players about a fifth major (i.e. the Players - boooooring) but I'm going to predict that the Olympics will become it as it's different (format needs tweaking but that's for another day). Players will look forward to relaxing their grip on the $$$ chase for a week or so and will take refuge in representing their respective nations at the highest level. There's no empirical evidence for this, it's just a hunch. Sounds unlikely I know but occasionally the right thing in life happens even against the odds.

 

[rksquire]

He was also 'somewhat right' in my opinion. BBC had it available via the red button and online but I'd be interested to know the amount of viewers. Great that its biggest advocate won Gold but it's debatable how inspiring that is - "Major winning, highly ranked and one of the favourites, millionaire professional golfer wins golf tournament". The Olympics is every 4 years and should be the pinnacle. I think it's great for Rose, I really do, but as far as Olympians and inspiring athletes go it's sort off like... it's not up their with Peaty, Trott, Kenny, Whitlock, Adams, Jones.

Will it ever be? No, I don't think so, same as Murray and tennis. I think if it's going to be professional the format needs radically looked at it - something new and fresh would be great.

 

[Slab]

He was also 'somewhat right' in my opinion. BBC had it available via the red button and online but I'd be interested to know the amount of viewers. Great that its biggest advocate won Gold but it's debatable how inspiring that is - "Major winning, highly ranked and one of the favourites, millionaire professional golfer wins golf tournament". The Olympics is every 4 years and should be the pinnacle. I think it's great for Rose, I really do, but as far as Olympians and inspiring athletes go it's sort off like... it's not up their with Peaty, Trott, Kenny, Whitlock, Adams, Jones.

Will it ever be? No, I don't think so, same as Murray and tennis. I think if it's going to be professional the format needs radically looked at it - something new and fresh would be great.

We know from some of the figures released that it looks very much like golf at the Olympics was a huge success in terms of TV viewers (whether that can be applied to the UK as a single component of the countries that broadcast it I've no idea, I guess had the BBC sufficient channels for the whole event it wouldn't have been restricted to red button)

 

[Deleted member 15344]

The Olympics is the one sporting event that is free to air around the world so the viewing figures will be higher compared to most - they had over 12 million watching gymnastics and 10mil watching Dressage !

 

[Slab]

The Olympics is the one sporting event that is free to air around the world so the viewing figures will be higher compared to most - they had over 12 million watching gymnastics and 10mil watching Dressage !

Agree, that sounds like a very good arguement for retaining golf as an Olympic event

 

[Tashyboy]

We know from some of the figures released that it looks very much like golf at the Olympics was a huge success in terms of TV viewers (whether that can be applied to the UK as a single component of the countries that broadcast it I've no idea, I guess had the BBC sufficient channels for the whole event it wouldn't have been restricted to red button)

RE the BBC and the Olympics, I thought the presenters were Bob on, some excellent viewing, But and this is a massive but, The BBC knew er four years ago the Olympics were gonna be on and I lost count the amount of times I heard a presenter say if you want to continue watching this swop over to BBC 3 or 4 or 2. ( coz flippin Eastenders is coming on) then once Britnay had slept wiv someone else and after four months of guessing who the dad was, all condensed with 30 nail biting minutes, not. We were then told we had to swop back from BBC 2,3 or 4 back to BBC 1. So there was no chance the Beeb was gonna donate one channel to golf

 

[Slab]

RE the BBC and the Olympics, I thought the presenters were Bob on, some excellent viewing, But and this is a massive but, The BBC knew er four years ago the Olympics were gonna be on and I lost count the amount of times I heard a presenter say if you want to continue watching this swop over to BBC 3 or 4 or 2. ( coz flippin Eastenders is coming on) then once Britnay had slept wiv someone else and after four months of guessing who the dad was, all condensed with 30 nail biting minutes, not. We were then told we had to swop back from BBC 2,3 or 4 back to BBC 1. So there was no chance the Beeb was gonna donate one channel to golf

Yeah very fortunate here that the Olympics were on subscription TV and at peak I counted 12 of their sport channels showing Olympic events at the same time & golf was given top billing on number 1 sports channel for about 7 or 8 hours a day

 

[GB72]

It is a constant frustration that the BBC class the red button and 5 live Sports Extra as acceptable coverage. Not everyone has access to, or can afford, the broadband speeds needed to watch these things and not everyone has access to digital radio.

I had to laugh the other evening when 5 live were interviewing members of the ladies hockey team. Spent the whole interview telling them how wonderful it was, how unique, how historic and how great for the sport it was that they won whilst conveniently glossing over the fact that they bumped the commentary on to sports extra to make way for a Friday night premiership game.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

It is a constant frustration that the BBC class the red button and 5 live Sports Extra as acceptable coverage. Not everyone has access to, or can afford, the broadband speeds needed to watch these things and not everyone has access to digital radio.

I had to laugh the other evening when 5 live were interviewing members of the ladies hockey team. Spent the whole interview telling them how wonderful it was, how unique, how historic and how great for the sport it was that they won whilst conveniently glossing over the fact that they bumped the commentary on to sports extra to make way for a Friday night premiership game.

Again BBC aren't a dedicated sports channel - what else are they supposed to do ?

They get thousands of complaints already that they have hours and hours of sports coverage for the Olympics from the millions that don't like sport and want to watch the generic day or night time telly

BBC 4 was dedicated all day long to the Olympics - they showed countless sports on red button or online

They also pay millions for the football coverage so football fans would complain no doubt complain if commentary wasn't on.

The BBC will never please everyone no matter what they do someone will complain -

Unless of course someone has an idea on how they can please everyone ?

 

[GB72]

Olympics is once every 4 years, premiership is every week. Ditch the football to sports extra for this 2 week period and focus on the Olympics. Simple. Oh and keep the Olympics coverage either on BBC 1 or BBC2 and move the rest of the scheduling to the other channel. If people want to hark on about how important it is that the Olympics is on free to air TV then the channels involved have to make sacrifices to show full coverage.

The perfect solution, split the rights between all 5 terrestrial channels then you get all coverage live on terrestrial TV. Split the Radio coverage between stations that broadcast nationally on an analogue signal and you get the same, full coverage.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Olympics is once every 4 years, premiership is every week. Ditch the football to sports extra for this 2 week period and focus on the Olympics. Simple. Oh and keep the Olympics coverage either on BBC 1 or BBC2 and move the rest of the scheduling to the other channel. If people want to hark on about how important it is that the Olympics is on free to air TV then the channels involved have to make sacrifices to show full coverage.

The perfect solution, split the rights between all 5 terrestrial channels then you get all coverage live on terrestrial TV. Split the Radio coverage between stations that broadcast nationally on an analogue signal and you get the same, full coverage.

But your solution wouldn't please the non Olympic fans - it's a solution that pleases Olympic fans - Premiership fans would complain loudly about the coverage they want moving - and move Eastenders to BBC2 and the millions that watch that would complain - you won't please them all.

The BBC provided fantastic coverage of every single sport at the Olympics - some times you had to flip the channel ( hardship pressing a button ) - it's all without adverts

Split it to the other stations isn't the perfect solution you then get adverts and then the complaints happen still !

There is no perfect solution but if they biggest issue is that someone has to turn the channel over for 30 mins then I think they are doing a pretty damn good job if you ask me.

BBC allows us to watch the greatest sport show on the planet without one single betting advert in site