“I think people with golf in the Olympics they weren’t sure what it would be like but I think it definitely should be in the Olympics because of the intensity”, Lee said.
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It’s been an odd year for the 28-year-old South Korean, who hasn’t played since missing the cut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee in June, the day after she played the round that secured her induction into the LPGA Hall of Fame with 10 years of service.
Henderson has also been the busiest on the LPGA Tour this season, playing 81 tour rounds among her 21 events.
LPGA commissioner Mike Whan said Tuesday that, while a break in August wasn’t ideal, that it was the only way his players could participate in the Olympics and not feel like they’re losing ground on their peers. Retirement is approaching. She had every reason to sit out the Olympics, and there was no shortage of South Koreans ready to step in.
Despite that improvement, Park didn’t stomp out chatter that she could be retiring sooner than later.
“I didn’t want to push myself to play in a bad body condition because you’re representing your country and you want to be in the best form as much as you can”, Park said.
Three days after Justin Rose won the first Olympic gold medal in golf in 112 years, the women take over at Olympic Golf Course. Though the men played it at 7,128 yards, the women will compete at 6,245 yards.
Despite the number of high-profile dropouts from the men’s tournament, the women’s field is much more refined with the top nine female golfers in the world all accounted for.
Despite South Korea sending such a strong contingent, the quartet are expected to be outsiders for medals, particularly as their top player Inbee Park is nursing a sore thumb. All three met Katie Ledecky and many other athletes.
Majority were on the course Sunday afternoon, either watching the men finish or hearing the cheers as they practiced.
“Ever since golf became part of the Olympic Games, we said it, we want to be there together and we did it. And they said it’s the second biggest tent in the world, so I would love to see the first, what the biggest tent in the world is”.
“It seems every time Canada gets a medal, it’s very exciting, and like you said, the women have been doing extremely well”.
Lewis said she had this date “circled in red” when she qualified, calling it the most important week of the year “besides my wedding”.
Thompson tuned up for the Olympics with a typical practice regimen while 15th-ranked American Gerina Piller pulled weeds from her garden, saying, “My hamstrings are so sore it’s not even amusing”.
Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson, and Lexi Thompson will compete for the gold in Rio de Janeiro this week.
Park said she intends to play in The Evian Championship, the LPGA’s final major of the year, in September. Also favored to medal is Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, who picked up her fourth LPGA victory of the year at the Women’s British Open.
If the men’s golf competition in the Summer Olympics last week showed anything, it was that the cream of the Olympic crop did rise to the top.
They have an icon as their team leader, Se Ri Pak, perhaps the most prominent pioneer in golf of any other country.
Mullally first encountered Henderson at a Golf Canada camp when she was 13 and he isn’t surprised at her dedication or her stubbornness. She has been going at it hard for almost two decades, and she hedged when asked if the Olympics might be her finale.
“I don’t think any of the girls even really thought about not coming”, Lewis said. She sent me a really nice e-mail saying she was really happy and to go and do my country proud. I think we see it in different ways (than the men).
For now, it’s all about the Olympics.
She got her week off to a great start by making a hole-in-one on the sixth hole during practice on Monday.
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For a photo shoot a few months ago, Lexi Thompson tried on the straw hats and heavy dresses that her predecessors wore at the turn of the century. “Obviously competing against all the best in the world, in the Olympic Games, what we’ve never done before, it’s such a special feeling”. “It’s such an fantastic opportunity, but at the same time I have a job to do”.
