The Official Golf Thread

[Milltown Row2]

Me or Lowry?

Lowry for letting down all the Rory haters

[Dinny Breen]

Golfers don't need the Olympics it's not something they would have grown up aspiring to be, it's not something they have put their lives on hold for and there is no monetary gain.

Can't blame any of them, minute as the risk is there is still a risk.

[AZOffaly]

Golfers don't need the Olympics it's not something they would have grown up aspiring to be, it's not something they have put their lives on hold for and there is no monetary gain.

Can't blame any of them, minute as the risk is there is still a risk.

+1

[laoislad]

That gets Rory off da hook

Or Rory gets Day off the hook 

Mcilroy must be delighted this Zika virus started. Some stroke of luck for him.

[Estimator]

It isn't just the Olympics...


Ryder Cup: Will selfish players harm Europe's chances?

By Iain Carter

BBC golf correspondent

Despite McIlroy and Masters champion Willet appearing at the French Open, other big names have stayed away

The European Tour have thrown everything at bolstering this week's centenary French Open but with only partial success which, along with the latest Olympic withdrawals, serves to highlight the selfish nature of professional golfers.

Players' instincts are to do whatever is best for them. Even rigging the Ryder Cup qualifying process to lure more stars to Paris is not enough for some to change schedules.

Yes, the French Open field can boast four times major winner Rory McIlroy and Masters Champion Danny Willett, but the likes of Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose and last week's victor in Germany, Henrik Stenson are absent.

This must be a source of disappointment to the Tour and it's chief executive, Keith Pelley. After all, they have compromised the integrity of Ryder Cup qualifying in trying to produce the strongest possible field.

Points earned at Le Golf National will be doubled for the tables that determine the European team that defends the trophy at Hazeltine this September. The winner receives 64 points on the world ranking list and a million points on the European list.

The leading four players on the order of merit based European table and the top five from the world ranking standings create the nine automatic qualifiers.

Furthermore, for the first time there are no points on offer at the World Golf Championships event in Akron, Ohio which is also being played this week.

This is the European Tour standing up to its more powerful American counterparts, but at what cost?

They have played politics against the PGA Tour and with the qualifying tables but Darren Clarke's line up may be adversely affected.

Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke will hope his team selection is not hindered by Tour politics

If Ireland's Shane Lowry were to successfully defend his WGC title he would receive no qualifying credit despite beating a higher ranked field than whoever wins the French Open.

The same goes for Rose, Scotland's Russell Knox, Sweden's David Lingmerth and Soren Kjeldsen, of Denmark.

It is fair to say Clarke would want players capable of winning tournaments headlined by the likes of Jason Day and Jordan Spieth in his team. In his heyday, it was winning these sort of events that helped make the captain a fixture in the Ryder Cup team.

Of course, the skipper will take due note and successful Europeans in Ohio would do their chances of a wildcard pick no harm at all. But this might mean Clarke having to use a pick on someone who would otherwise have qualified automatically.

There is something rather unsettling about manipulating the qualification process for a mainstay as important as the Ryder Cup to boost a single tournament.

But the Tour clearly felt it was necessary to ensure the French Open did not suffer unduly when a World Golf Championships event was scheduled at the same time.

This clash was brought about because of golf's return to the Olympics. It meant there was no room for the WGC in its usual early August slot between the Open and PGA Championship.

And here is another area where players are putting themselves first rather than their sport.

The growing list of Rio absentees from the men's tournament is threatening to undermine the credibility of golf's regained Olympic status.

McIlroy's withdrawal from the Irish team because of his fears over the Zika virus was swiftly followed by South African Branden Grace. They join Vijay Singh, Marc Leishman, Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel in choosing to stay away.

Rory McIlroy

After pulling out of the Rio Olympics, McIlroy said that "my health and my family's health comes before everything else".

It is hard to criticise anyone who cites health fears, especially Leishman whose wife has a compromised immune system following serious illness last year.

However it does feel as though the male golfers are out of step with pretty much the rest of the Olympic movement despite assurances that the Zika threat is low.

The tournament takes place in winter when there are few mosquitoes and the course is close to the sea which again minimises the threat.

Members of the International Olympic Committee will not be impressed when they assess golf's right to stay in the Games next year. "I think it is appalling," Canadian representative Barry Maister told a New Zealand radio station.

"Once they've got in, they have got to deliver. Just getting in with your name, and then putting up some second or third rate players, is so far from the Olympic ideal or the expectation of the Olympic Movement.

"The Olympics is about the best, and they pledged the best. Quite frankly, any sport that cannot deliver its best athletes, in my view, should not be there."

Significantly, no women have withdrawn from the Olympics. They are the ones in most need of the exposure the Games will provide.

By turning up to play they are acting in their own best interests and in that regard they are no different to their male counterparts.

[Dinny Breen]

Golf is an individual sport, to succeed you have to be incredibly selfish else you won't.

[Boycey]

That gets Rory off da hook

Or Rory gets Day off the hook 

Mcilroy must be delighted this Zika virus started. Some stroke of luck for him.

I reckon Nike actually created the virus to get them and him out of a tight spot.

[laoislad]

So now that Lowry has understandably withdrawn who do we send?
Harrington probably won't be having anymore kids so I'm sure he will go? Maybe McGinley himself will play now also?
Clarke also maybe? He has already posed with a tri colour so it may not be as much hassle for him to do it again 
We could also just pull out altogether,I doubt anyone will care at this stage.

[Boycey]

It has to be the next in line on the world rankings who currently are Padraig Harrington and Seamus Power. Padraig is going to be on Matt Coopers programme on TodayFM shortly presumably to say he's going...

[trileacman]

To be fair I probably wouldn't go so have no qualms with any man or woman pulling out. Your talking about your health here and moreover the health of your partner and potentially any children you might have.

I don't get people who are rushing to hammer those pulling out. Luke Fitzgerald retired from rugby today because it could f**k him up down the line. How's that different from Rory or Lowry? Zika is an emerging and poorly understood disease. No one knows yet just how it will play out especially in the long term.

I wonder if Ali pulled out of a few of those last fights, maybe even the thrilla in Manila would he have been lambasted as a coward and a poor sportsman. Imagine further that he might have never taken Parkinson's and lived out his remaining days in rude health but never shook the reputation as a choker or a dodger. Would he have preferred, given the choice, to enjoy his remaining days in a healthier state but be thought less of by the world? Or would he have accepted the hand he was dealt, a sporting hero revered through the ages but living through his twilight as the shell of the man he once was. What would you chose?

[Puckoon]

The Olympic golf situation is headed toward the farcical. I wonder how long it is before they pull the pin on it, I'm not even sure some of the amateurs would be interested in going at this rate.

[Capt Pat]

I think these golfers are wimping out. Just leave the girl friend or wife at home and there is no problem. Maybe abstain from sex for a few weeks after you get back just to be safe. They are giving up a big opportunity over fear of the unknown zika virus. You don't see other athletes pulling out like this, it is just the golfers. Maybe it is because there is no prestige for the Olympic golf tournament, which is new to the Olympics. 

[mouview]

Me or Lowry?

Lowry for letting down all the Rory haters

Lowry has only recently gotten married. It is of course in his and his wife's best interests not to endanger their future livelihood and health by exposing himself to an unknown and unnecessary welfare threat. We wish him the best of success in his golfing career. McIlroy, on the other hand, is a treacherous rat whose decision was taken with self-interest and profit in mind; his patriotism is suspect because he's not really 'from here'. Why can't he bugger off back up North?

[armaghniac]

There will be many sports at the Olympics.  Other sportsmen will just freeze some sperm just in case and go.

[NetNitrate]

I think these golfers are wimping out. Just leave the girl friend or wife at home and there is no problem. Maybe abstain from sex for a few weeks after you get back just to be safe. They are giving up a big opportunity over fear of the unknown zika virus. You don't see other athletes pulling out like this, it is just the golfers. Maybe it is because there is no prestige for the Olympic golf tournament, which is new to the Olympics.

You also have a far greater chance of getting bit by mosquito on golf course. Golfers are used to mosquitoes on American courses. They are unlikely to be swarming around the boxing halls and swimming stadiums. Even sporting arenas are not breeding grounds for mosquitoes. But golf courses in warmer climes are. Of course all this won't stop some of our ignorant boxers acting the pontificating fiorghael.