Speaking at Royal Troon Golf Club ahead of this week’s British Open, world No. 3 Jordan Spieth expressed dramatically higher regard for Olympic golf than McIlroy did.
Advertisement
RORY OUTLOOK: The four-time major victor who was among the first of the luminaries to scratch from Rio, Rory McIlroy, was dismissive of the theory that all the dropouts are sullying golf’s image.
“I don’t feel like I’ve let the game down at all”, he said. “If golf is in the Olympics and golf wants to be seen as a mainstream sport as such, it has to get in line with the other sports that test more rigorously”. “I got into golf to win championships, and major championships”.
“I would say that golf is skipping Rio rather than skipping the Olympics”, said the 2013 U.S. Open champ.
Spieth, who arrived at the Open a year ago seeking the third leg of an unprecedented calendar grand slam after winning the Masters and US Open, said he will not defend his John Deere Classic title in the same week as the Olympics, feeling it would be “inappropriate”. This was something I very much struggled with, I bounced back and forth with, and ultimately a decision had to be made yesterday and so I made it. “I don’t really know”.
Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy previously pulled out, all citing Zika and their plans to start a family or have more children.
Already, golf luminaries from Tiger Woods to Jack Nicklaus had sent video testimonials expressing their support for the sport’s return to the Summer Games. McIlroy said golf needs to toughen its drug-testing procedures if it’s to be viewed “as a mainstream sport”. McIlroy said he was “very happy with his decision” to not play and didn’t think he was letting the game down by not going to Rio.
“This was probably the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life….” “Probably the events like track and field, swimming, diving”, McIlroy said pausing briefly before adding: “The stuff that matters“. “Mine came down to just a very personal decision that, again, I don’t expect anybody to understand, but trust that I believe I’m making the right decision for myself, for my future and for those around me”. “This is going to be hard for me to watch my peers compete for a gold medal, or any medal, and watch people stand on the stage and hear the national anthem playing”. While golf is set to be included in the 2020 Games in Tokyo, its future beyond that will be subject to an International Olympic Committee vote in 2017. “I think the opportunity was obviously there to be an Olympian and that to me was pretty cool”.
“I’ve got four major championships, and I’d love to add to that tally, just as those guys would love to add to their one or two majors that they have and just keep going”. Spieth said the three spoke often about the decision on whether to play in Rio.
“We have to respect the individual decisions, even if they are going contrary to the recommendations given by the World Health Organization, if Zika is given as a reason”, Bach said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press and two other global news agencies.
Advertisement
McIlroy missed last year’s Open at St. Andrews because he ruptured ankle ligaments in a freak accident on the soccer pitch, so he’s glad to be back playing in the oldest championship in golf.
