Rory McIlroy has delivered a huge blow to golf’s credibility as an Olympic sport by saying he has no plans to watch any of the play at the Rio Games next month and will instead focus on “the stuff that matters”.
McIlroy withdrew from the Olympics last month due to fears over the Zika virus, a decision also taken by Jordan Speith on Monday, meaning the world's top four players will not be in Brazil, with Jason Day and Dustin Johnson also ruling themselves out of competing in South America.
The absences are a blow for golf’s returning to Olympic competition for the first time since 1904, and has been deemed by some as proof that the sport should not be an Olympic event as the professionals simply do not take it seriously enough at that level.
Spieth disagrees with that assessment, claiming at Royal Troon on Tuesday, ahead of the Open, that withdrawing from the Games is “probably the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life”.
But McIlroy has made no secret of his contempt for golf as an Olympic sport. Also speaking at Royal Troon on Tuesday, the 27-year-old insisted he was “very comfortable” with his decision not to go to Rio, adding he’ll “probably watch the Olympics, but I’m not sure golf is one of the sports I’ll watch.”
McIlroy went on to say that he didn’t become a golfer “to grow the game” – one of the reasons often cited by supporters of Olympic golf.
Also speaking on Tuesday, Masters champion Danny Willett said he's "willing to take that little bit of risk" and play at the Olympics because the likelihood of contracting the Zika virus is lessening every day. "If there's an Olympic Games down in Johannesburg, would guys pull out because of malaria? I don't really know, you know?" he added.
Justin Rose, meanwhile, believes the threat of the Zika virus could prove to be a "non-event", but he has expressed his sympathy for those who have cited it as a reason to miss the Olympics.
“I think the Zika risk is going to be one of those things that we look back at and think it’s a non-event hopefully,” Rose said. “You’re going to get down there and you’re probably not going to see a mosquito in sight.
“Obviously with golf being an outdoor sport played around the water out there, 20, 30 miles out from the city, five, six hours out on the golf course, seven days a week, you are probably at a higher risk than most other athletes in most other sports who are in much more of a contained environment. So I do sympathise with the guys who are at that phase of their lives where either their wives are pregnant or having children in the future. It’s been sort of a sad situation to see those sorts of guys pulling out. It’s obviously weakened the field.”
The International Olympic Committee has said it "respects" the decision of any golfer to skip the Rio Games because of the Zika virus, but IOC president, Thomas Bach, has also pointed to guidelines from the World Health Organisation which do not recommended any restrictions on travel to Rio.
(Guardian service)
