Professional Golf 2024 & 2025

Orikoru said:
Must admit it is a bit funny having golf in the Olympics. In most proper Olympic sports you would say the gold medal winner is probably the best in the world, or close to it. e.g. when Bolt won the 100m he was unquestionably the fastest person in the world, and so on. But the golf winner could literally be anyone and you wouldn't necessarily say the same thing.
Click to expand...
Same can be said for tennis. Neither should be anywhere near the Olympics.
 
Lord Tyrion said:
Same can be said for tennis. Neither should be anywhere near the Olympics.
Click to expand...
Not quite the same as I'd expect Alcaraz or Djokovic to win unless they cock it up in the semis or something. In golf it wouldn't be a complete shock for any mid-tier player to have a good week and win a gold medal despite being a long, long way away from being the best in the world. There are countless examples in other sports but the strongest weightlifter will probably win the weightlifting, the best javelin thrower will probably win the javelin, etc etc. 😄
 
Orikoru said:
Must admit it is a bit funny having golf in the Olympics. In most proper Olympic sports you would say the gold medal winner is probably the best in the world, or close to it. e.g. when Bolt won the 100m he was unquestionably the fastest person in the world, and so on. But the golf winner could literally be anyone and you wouldn't necessarily say the same thing.
Click to expand...
Originally though, Golf was in the 2nd and 3rd Olympics back in 1900 & 1904.

It was amatuer entrants in those days and maybe when it was brought back it should of been as an Amatuer Comp.
 
Orikoru said:
Not quite the same as I'd expect Alcaraz or Djokovic to win unless they cock it up in the semis or something. In golf it wouldn't be a complete shock for any mid-tier player to have a good week and win a gold medal despite being a long, long way away from being the best in the world. There are countless examples in other sports but the strongest weightlifter will probably win the weightlifting, the best javelin thrower will probably win the javelin, etc etc. 😄
Click to expand...
It depends if they care enough to give it everything. If they are a bit half hearted then Mr Mid Ranking could easily come through and win it.

Tokyo Olympics, Alexander Zverev won the mens singles. High quality but yet to win a grand slam. Won in the era of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic. Belinda Bencic won the ladies, no Grand Slam titles to her name either. Not that different then. (yes, I did have to google that by the way 😄 )
 
At the end of the day, aside from sports where it is judged which can always have the potential to be mis-marked or seen differently (boxing being an obvious one) then it still needs to competitor to produce their best on the day.
 
PaulMdj said:
Originally though, Golf was in the 2nd and 3rd Olympics back in 1900 & 1904.

It was amatuer entrants in those days and maybe when it was brought back it should have been as an Amatuer Comp.
Click to expand...
Yeh, I do feel it should be for the amateur golfers rather than the top top pros. Just feels like another golf tournament.

Generally the Olympics is the pinnacle of the sport, but it’s never going to complete with a major in golf, World Cup in football, Wimbledon in tennis etc.
 
PaulMdj said:
Originally though, Golf was in the 2nd and 3rd Olympics back in 1900 & 1904.

It was amatuer entrants in those days and maybe when it was brought back it should of been as an Amatuer Comp.
Click to expand...

Much as I like the notion none of the other olympic sports have remained as an amateur only status (wrestling apart I think) so a bit weird if golf had done it

edit: particularly when they were 'fighting' to get golf included for the longer term. Showcasing AM's only might not have been best option
 
PaulMdj said:
Originally though, Golf was in the 2nd and 3rd Olympics back in 1900 & 1904.

It was amatuer entrants in those days and maybe when it was brought back it should of been as an Amatuer Comp.
Click to expand...
There's been a lot of rewriting of history when it comes to those early Olympic Games - many events (including golf) were not considered part of the games at the time but have since been reclassified as such.
 
Orikoru said:
Not quite the same as I'd expect Alcaraz or Djokovic to win unless they cock it up in the semis or something. In golf it wouldn't be a complete shock for any mid-tier player to have a good week and win a gold medal despite being a long, long way away from being the best in the world. There are countless examples in other sports but the strongest weightlifter will probably win the weightlifting, the best javelin thrower will probably win the javelin, etc etc. 😄
Click to expand...
How is this any different from any other golf event? The best golfer doesn't always (ever?) win so lets just scrap golf as it is just a lottery? Loads of Major wins - just lucky?
 
Neilds said:
How is this any different from any other golf event? The best golfer doesn't always (ever?) win so lets just scrap golf as it is just a lottery? Loads of Major wins - just lucky?
Click to expand...
No, you've missed the point. I was simply pointing out how it's unlike the vast majority of other Olympic events. Olympic events to me are about proving categorically who is fastest, strongest, can jump the highest, etc. In golf though the winner is only the best golfer that week so it doesn't really make sense to have it in the Olympics.
 
PaulMdj said:
Originally though, Golf was in the 2nd and 3rd Olympics back in 1900 & 1904.

It was amatuer entrants in those days and maybe when it was brought back it should of been as an Amatuer Comp.
Click to expand...
Not many amateurs in any Olympic sport now. At the very least, most will get lottery funding. If we took out the professionals it could be over in 2 days 😄
 
Orikoru said:
No, you've missed the point. I was simply pointing out how it's unlike the vast majority of other Olympic events. Olympic events to me are about proving categorically who is fastest, strongest, can jump the highest, etc. In golf though the winner is only the best golfer that week so it doesn't really make sense to have it in the Olympics.
Click to expand...
That's a good point and one I hadn't really considered before. The gold medal winner is usually one of the best 2 or 3 in the world in most events. Even in other skill based events like shooting it's usually one of the favourites who win. Just goes to show what a stupid bloody game this is!
 
Interesting discussion about it on The Chipping Forecast podcast yesterday.

Yep. Golf isn't an Olympic Sport, using the definition "is the Gold Medal the pinnacle of the sport?"

But, there will be folk in countries that don't traditionally play golf, getting exposure to it. Eg in Venezuela, if Jhonny Vegas gets a medal, big coverage.
 
Orikoru said:
No, you've missed the point. I was simply pointing out how it's unlike the vast majority of other Olympic events. Olympic events to me are about proving categorically who is fastest, strongest, can jump the highest, etc. In golf though the winner is only the best golfer that week so it doesn't really make sense to have it in the Olympics.
Click to expand...

But unless every Gold is also a world record isn't every sport just the person/team that performed best that week? i.e The gold medal high jump winner may not be the world record holder, may not jump within 10cm of the record but was just the best that week
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

F
European membership & Ryder Cup qualification changes
Replies
17
Views
3K
ger147
G
Top