Finally, we had a Men’s Olympic Golf competition worthy of the precious metals on offer, but much as I enjoyed watching the action unfold, there was still a little part of me that remained cold to the idea of players who turned their nose up at representing their nations being seen as heroes.
Don’t get me wrong, I watched all four rounds in their entirety and each Rory McIlroy birdie was greeted with cheer and excitement and each bogey with groan and despair, but I still can’t quite fully escape the memory of 2016, of the faux-Zika Virus concerns, and the comments made at Royal Troon where he came clean and admitted that Olympic Golf was not something that interested him.
People change, opinions change, and Rory’s reversal and strong subsequent support for the Olympics and golf’s place in it has been part of the reason that the Men’s Olympic Golf Gold Medal is now a prized possession, maybe not quite on a par with a Green Jacket, Claret Jug, Wannamaker Trophy or the unnamed U.S. Open trophy, but it’s the next best thing and in time, could take its place alongside.
I fail to see a future where the leading men ever say ‘no’ again to competing under their nations’ flags, because the precedence has now been set, and Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar, then Xander Schauffele, Rory Sabbatini and C.T. Pan, and now Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama all have something that the millions on offer week-to-week can’t possibly buy.
The Women’s Medals’ worth, however, have never been in doubt. Neither the Zika Virus nor the COVID-19 pandemic and the impracticalities and impositions it placed on the athletes were adequate enough deterrents to convince any of the leading and qualified female golfers not to take their places in Rio or in Tokyo.
While it may be construed as sexist to say that the Masters, the Open Championship and the U.S. Open are of higher value than the Chevron Championship, AIG Women’s Open or U.S. Women’s Open, the global audience, the media coverage, the spectators on site and of course, the money on offer all suggest that the statement is more fact than fiction, even if each of these factors contribute to each other in a vicious circle of sorts.
That’s not the case at the Olympics, however, and there is even a claim to be made that a Women’s Golf Gold Medal is of higher value than the men’s because each of the previous two Gold Medal winners – Inbee Park and Nelly Korda – each had to beat the strongest field possible. And it’s the same in Paris.
It’s not by design, I’d wager, but staging the Men’s Olympic Golf competition first almost makes it a curtain raiser for the main event. Everybody who watched the action last week will be intimately familiar with the holes at Le Golf National, will know where players can miss and where they can’t, and will get to see holes played in a more traditional manner rather than the seemingly endless repetition of driver-wedge.
In Celine Boutier, the host nation have a star in whom they have higher hopes than they would’ve had for either Mathieu Pavon or Victor Perez last week, New Zealander Lydia Ko is striving to become the first golfer to own a complete set of medals after claiming Silver in Rio and Bronze in Tokyo, and Nelly Korda, the undisputed star of the 2024 women’s game, is hoping to eclipse Xander Schauffele and become the first player to win back-to-back Gold Medals.
Irish fans have been spoiled over the past two decades as major title after major title have been claimed by golfers from these shores, but we’ve yet to have a women’s major winner and were Leona Maguire or Stephanie Meadow to triumph or even medal at Le Golf National, it will arguably do more for women’s golf in the country than any of the major titles have done for Irish men’s golf, and there is no denying that we’ve been riding the crest of a wave ever since Pádraig Harrington’s breakthrough at Carnoustie in 2007.