Gold medallist Justin Rose has said that the players who skipped golf’s return to the Olympics this year “missed out” and that he expects more of them to feature at the Tokyo Games in 2020.
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Golf as a viable Olympic sport in the future is up for debate. “If you take the broadcast and then look at what a great showdown to have these two guys battling down the end, I don’t know that it could have gone much better”. “It will bruise me when I swing with it”.
But after securing golf’s first Olympic gold medal in 112 years by beating Open champion Henrik Stenson in a thrilling duel at Reserva de Marapendi, one of the many congratulatory messages Rose received was from Ryder Cup team-mate McIlroy.
Rose claimed a two-shot success in Rio on Sunday, holding off Sweden’s Henrik Stenson to claim the spoils for Team GB. According to Bovada Sportsbook, Ko is 3 to 1 to win the gold medal. “Hopefully some of the vibes came off”. Ko was born in Seoul, South Korea, but her family moved to New Zealand when she was an infant and she was raised there. She already has won four times this year, including her second major at the ANA Inspiration in California, and she was runner-up to Brooke Henderson of Canada in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
She told a press conference, including a solid contingent of worldwide media representatives, she had watched some of her New Zealand teammates compete, including shot putter and silver medallist Val Adams, and the men’s golfing duo, Ryan Fox and Danny Lee – for whom she had had to sacrifice some valuable sleep time.
“I got realistic, ” Player said. “I think expectations for medals put a huge amount of pressure on them”.
Ko was not anxious about following the men on the Olympic course, certain their divots would not be in her landing zones.
“I’ve never been so proud of a third place finish in my life”, Kuchar said.
“It is a feeling that will never go away. It’s pretty firm out there”.
Stenson, 40, settled for the silver medal after a final round in which the lead changed hands between the duo of major champions on the back nine. Like Maguire, Ko was the number one amateur in the world before she turned professional and started to consume tournaments, both tour events and Majors.
“It’s once every four years but it could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so it had a lot more significance than any other Sunday I’ve been to”. “But these athletes have completed so much in their careers and their sports”. New Zealand does not have the depth to form a team for the International Crown, which was the closest event golf had to the Olympics before the Olympics came along. Now it’s time for you to get yours.’ He was actually crying when I phoned him.
Ko thinks her time in wind-swept courses with few trees back home will serve her well in similar Olympic conditions.
Ko birdied the 72nd hole to get to 12-under par and finished one shot ahead of Charley Hull and In Gee Chun.
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So as the women who were arriving for their Olympic tournament this week began taking their places on the driving range, so, too, did the 80-year-old Hall of Famer, pausing to chat between shots. “I have had a dog run away with my ball and I got penalised”.
