But the 27-year-old, who was 10th in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on his last start, said: “I’m heading in the right direction”.
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“I get where different people come from and different people have different opinions but I’m very happy with the decision I’ve made and I have no regrets about it”.
Chorley squash star Laura Massaro has branded golfer Rory McIlroy’s ambivalence towards the Olympics as “unacceptable”.
Hoooo, Rory McIlroy did not hold back at The Open on Tuesday, crushing the concept of golf in the Olympics and saying he’ll watch the other events “that matter”.
The R&A will be furious at how the build-up to the 145th Open has been completely overshadowed by these inflammatory remarks.
Speaking at a news conference before this week’s Open Championship in Scotland, where the game’s leading players have assembled for the third major tournament of the golf season, McIlroy said: “I don’t feel like I’ve let the game down at all”.
Meanwhile, none of the top women’s players have withdrawn.
“We have to respect the individual decisions even if they are going contrary to recommendations given by the World Health Organisation” on Zika, Bach told a small group of reporters when asked about the mass withdrawals.
The decision was announced by International Golf Federation President Peter Dawson.
“I didn’t cite that, so please don’t do that for me”, added Spieth.
“Not everybody’s going to understand. So me and my team just sat down, and I made the decision ultimately”.
“Why was it so hard?” he said.
In a double-pronged critique McIlroy also said golf had to change its drug testing policy in order to be accepted at a multi-sport event like the Olympics. “Therefore, there’s nothing I can do about it except go on and try to again focus on this week”.
While McIlroy remained unrepentant, Spieth had clearly agonised over his decision to withdraw and only made the call on Monday, the day of the Olympic deadline.
“With a lot of the golfers blaming the Zika virus it’s hard to know whether or not that’s true”, added Massaro. “I can tell you that I’m not specifically pinpointing any one thing in my health concerns, either”, he said.
“I don’t really know of any drug that can give you an advantage all the way across the board. I had to weigh the risk with the reward, and I felt like this year… the chances there versus being in the States at this point in time is very different”.
Massaro said squash’s top players had signed a letter when it was seeking Olympic recognition before the IOC decided which sports would feature at Rio – 18 of the world’s top golfers did similar in 2009. He continued, ” I thought about all of this ahead of time and still made the decision I did because it was the right move for me”. So I will be going back there, I just dont think its appropriate this year.. He also says it will be “very difficult” to watch the opening ceremony on television and see other golfers competing for a gold medal.
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However, in order to do so he said it has to improve a doping policy which has seen him tested just three or four times in 2016.
