McIlroy pulled out of the Games citing fears over the Zika virus, a position also adopted by Jason Day and Dustin Johnson – the world’s top two – and 17 other male players – but only one female golfer.
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It would be viewed as a disaster for the women’s game if the International Olympic Committee struck golf off the list from 2024.
“I think there are times in your career where you know you need to be single-minded, and maybe there are times of your career where it’s time to give back”, he said.
Golfer Jordan Spieth of the USA said withdrawing from the Rio Olympics was one of the most hard decision he had ever had to make.
Concern over the Zika virus has been chief among the reasons for players’ absences, but other factors such as the intensity of golf’s calendar and family matters have also arisen. There’s no point lying about that. “I think the opportunity was obviously there to be an Olympian and that to me was pretty cool”.
“But I’ve been fairly unwavering in my commitment to it”. “What I’m hoping is that when we come to play in Tokyo in 2020 that the top players do support Olympic golf”.
“I think blood testing is something that needs to happen in golf just to make sure that it is a clean sport going forward”. I play for other things. But I’m very happy with the decision that I’ve made and I have no regrets about it.
“Listen, this was probably the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life at 22 years old”, said Spieth.
Four-time major victor Rory McIlroy shot from the hip when he said, among other things, all he was interested in was winning and it was not his responsibility to “grow the game” on the wider world stage.
“This year I just had to try and weigh a risk that doesn’t present itself every year, and just at the time that I had to make the decision, I just felt this was the right move for me”.
McIlroy said he will only tune in to the sports that really matter – such as athletics, swimming, and diving!
The 35-year-old said: “Hopefully it’s a slip of the tongue – one of those moments”.
“This is something that was very challenging for me, I very much struggled with it, I certainly didn’t want to have to do it during a major week”. However, with McIlroy stating he will watch “the stuff that matters” rather than golf in Rio, it is clear an Olympic medal is not high on the list of priorities for some players.
“If golf wants to stay in the Olympics and wants to be seen as a mainstream sport as such it has to get in line with the rest of the sports that test more rigorously”.
As the cream of the world’s golfers prepared for the 145th Open championship, yesterday was dominated by further talk of the sports participation in the Games.
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“I thought about all of this ahead of time”.
