A capybara cools off in the water during a practice round for the men’s golf event.
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Whitney said his Olympic experience in Rio will be a one-off at golf’s elite level, unless he is ever asked to work as a caddie at the Masters, the first of the year’s four major championships. And by Sunday afternoon, it was about finding his way around Rio and to the Olympic Golf Course, where full preparation begins Monday.
“I can’t tell you right off hand what it’ll feel like, but I know it’ll be incredible”, Watson explained.
Not since 1904 in St. Louis has golf been part of the Olympic program, with George Lyon of Canada winning the gold medal. “I think it speaks volumes about our sport to have that guy love the game of golf the way he does”.
“And then of course if I can compete and compete well, if I make myself and my country happy, that would be something very special”.
Fowler and Watson are in the Olympic Village, meeting other athletes, being welcomed and receiving compliments themselves.
And he doesn’t care who’s at Olympic Golf Course. He has watched the Olympics and said every sport, no matter what it is, features the best in the world.
The latest stops on his personal fun-times tour came Tuesday night, when he and USA teammate Bubba Watson had dinner with US synchoronized divers Sam Dorman, David Boudia and Steele Johnson and watched as Michael Phelps took home gold medals in both the 200m butterfly and the 4x200m freestyle.
Few would have blamed Stenson if he had elected to pass on the Olympics, with the FedEx Cup playoffs looming as well as the Ryder Cup and the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.
And, despite global concerns about the Zika virus, he was not anxious enough to let that stop him.
“I’ve caddied for Juli Inkster a couple of times for her events in Arizona but it is not quite as serious as this”, said Whitney.
And apparently there are plenty of texts back home. They appreciated me big time. “It would just be the wind made me not get there”, Watson clarified. I know what a President’s Cup feels like. Who is likely to spoil the American party?
A good number of players trickled in to get acclimated to the course, and perhaps that becomes an advantage for them. Fowler checks in at 14/1 to win gold and arrives off four consecutive made cuts – ending a streak of three straight MCs – but just one of those cashes reached inside the top 30 (T10, WGC-Bridgestone).
Did you hear the one about Bubba Watson claiming he would lay up rather than go for the green in two on the 571-yard, par-5 18th hole if the Olympics bronze medal were at stake?
“In Sweden, the Olympics are nearly as important as a major”.
Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson are the only two from the original four United States of America qualifiers that made the trip to Rio after both Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson decided not to play. Probably asked the most about Jordan and Rory (McIlroy) and I told them I tried to get Jordan down here as much as possible and told them we all respect the decisions that were made, whether it was anything around schedule, health concerns or anxious about security and that’s possibly one thing that I’ve relayed back since we’ve been down here. “You wouldn’t need two weeks, maybe five days to mix it up”, Garcia said.
“Hockey players hook up a lot with golfers because professional athletes like to play with each other and our “off time” is generally in the summer and a lot of guys live where golfers tend to live”.
“But that’s not what you focus on”.
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“Hopefully we don’t have any encounters”, Fowler said.
