Olympic Golf: Good and Bad

 It's about time that golf gets the due it deserves for being a top international sport.  As judged by the President's Cup rosters, South America, Australia, Africa, and Asia all saw representation.  If one looks at recent Ryder Cup rosters, several European countries are represented as well such as Spain and Germany along with the British Isles.  It is a growing sport played at a high level on all corners of the Earth and that will continue to improve.

For the women who play professionally, this will be a huge boost as they play their sport on a stage where casual people will be paying attention.  For the women in their twenties now, the payday that will come ith a potential Olympic gold will be beyond their wildest dreams and will help develop more players everywhere.

The men? A different story.

This is more of an Olympic problem than a golf problem, but is anyone going to be real excited to see Tiger or Phil or any top tier PGA Tour member win an Olympic medal in a short field event?  Isn't this why we have the World Golf Championships?  I;m sure that whoever wins a medal will be happy, but will anyone really care?  It's not like Rory McIlroy's career will be judged on whether he scores a medal or not. 

Letting pros into the Olympics to begin with has opened Pandora's box.  It pretty much guaranteed that the United States would win gold medals in men's basketball again and gave hockey some attention as the NHL shuts down for an epic tournament.  Allowing lessor tier sports such as track and field, along with gymnastics and ice skaters the chance to earn money above the table has helped those sports.  Can the same be said for basketball?

There is no question that golf deserves to be a medal sport, but would it be better in the long run to send amateurs, at least for the men, instead?  Soccer has an age limit, no players over 23, for the Olympics.  Maybe golf should too.  Olympic glory should be at the beginning of a career, not the end.  The change of allowing big money pro's to compete has taken the luster off the games to a degree.

The Olympics should not be just another tournament.  Yet, the IOC wants the big names as Tiger and Phil will most likely play.  In the end, will this tournament be any different or special than a regular week on tour?