‘EnGolfed’ in the Olympics

Will golf be part of the 2016 games?  Where ever it may be hosted?

As the IGF (International Golf Federation) uncover more of their plans on the 2016 golf Olympic bid, the more I look forward to hearing the outcome.
 
It started well, with all major forces agreeing to work together for the better of the game. The greatest male and female players ever to grace the planet, Jack Nicolaus and Annika Sorrestam, were appointed ambassadors of the bid. With the supposing greatest minds in golf gathered around one table I waited with baited breath to hear the master plan to put golf on the Olympic map.

Just like the London 2012 bid, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) aren’t looking just for a great fortnight of sporting entertainment. They want to follow the Olympic ideal. They want to leave a legacy. The same is true with any new sporting bid. They want to enhance the sport, to reach out to places the game currently can’t reach and to get new people playing it. It is a fantastic opportunity for golf.

For those who don’t know the Olympic ideal, simply put, individuals, not countries, compete against each other in peaceful sporting competition without the burden of politics, religion or racism. A lot like golf I hear you say? You’d be right. What’s more, they even have the same faults. Both the IOC and R&A have been criticised for being intractable organizations.

Everything going swimmingly to get golf in then. I’m sure the two organisations have sat down for a whisky or two in front of the Swilcan burn at sunset numerous times and bonded better than Fanny and Faldo.

Recently it was announced that if golf does get the thumbs up over the other five competing sports then it shall be a standard 72 hole stroke play event. Zzzzzz. Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A, has gone on record saying if any golfer disagrees with the Olympic bid then they are ‘anti-golf’. I retract my six ‘z’ promptly.

Golf, as a whole has put so much resource into the bid I can’t see anything other than the game being played in the 2016 games.

Before you start day dreaming about the fifth major however, contemplate this for a second if you may. How could the IOC, in all their political correctness allow golf into the Olympics, when golf (the R&A) doesn’t allow women into its membership?

“More whisky IOC?”

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