Lincolnshire2012

[divingbrit]

Perhaps golf is clean of performance-enhancing drugs after all.

How else could you explain its failure to be made an official sport at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, it was recently voted down. Phil Mickelson is supporting Olympic golf as he tees it up in Singapore.

It seems the committee doesn't have much of a desire for a legitimate, honorable sport these days. The Games' credibility is getting worse and worse. Just look at this Wikipedia entry detailing every scandal in 2004. There are plenty of instances of performance-enhancing drugs. The Olympics are becoming a joke - full of silly sports no one is really passionate about except the many athletes who will risk being internationally disgraced to win.

I've been calling for Olympic golf for some time now. It would be great to see a country try and upset the South Koreans in women's golf, and the men's event would be up for grabs between the USA, South Africa, Australia and England - or dark horses like Argentina or Spain. Tell me that wouldn't be fun to watch.

Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour boys probably wouldn't like it because that would likely mean two weeks out of the summer where their events aren't as big, and it would be another excuse for Tiger Woods to skip the Barclays and some other second-tier tourneys. But the event would do wonders for the Olympics and global recognition of golf, which is already growing tremendously in markets like Asia and South America.

And London has scores of worthy venues close by like Royal Lytham & Royal St. George's that are worthy of hosting such a high-profile international event.

I guess we're stuck with ping-pong and ballroom dancing instead in 2012. Can we at least make fooseball an Olympic sport? We could have match play, one man, two man and freestyle tricks competitions.

By Brandon Tucker
worldgolf.com

[divingbrit]

OTHER SCOTS TO WATCH IN 2008

MARC WARREN (GOLF)
"Top that" was the challenge to Marc Warren after the Rutherglen native became the European Tour's Rookie of the Year in 2006. And he answered the challenge by finishing 42nd on the 2007 Order of Merit while delighting his home support with victory in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles. Add in his role to pairing Monty to the World Cup and it wasn't a bad haul all round. However, Warren's next task is to become the consistent contender, week in and out, that might elevate him into Ryder Cup contention.

[divingbrit]

PGA Tour Boss Tim Finchem Says He Wants Golf in 2016 Olympics -

U.S. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said golf should be part of the 2016 Olympics and wants to meet with leaders of the Games to discuss adding the sport.

Finchem said an Olympic spot would help golf to grow. While acknowledging there was plenty of work to be done, Finchem said the time is right for the sport to become part of the Olympic movement.

``While golf has many significant events throughout the year, including the major championships, the Players Championship and the World Golf Championships, adding golf to the Olympics would provide another dimension to our competitive landscape,'' Finchem wrote on the PGA Tour's Web site.

Golf was proposed as part of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where it would have been played at Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters Tournament. That plan was rejected when opponents, including International Olympic Committee member Anita DeFrantz of the U.S., complained that Augusta National was an all-male club that only recently had admitted its first black members.

In 2005, the IOC rejected the sport for the 2012 Games in London. The last time golf was an Olympic medal sport was 1904 in St. Louis.

Billy Payne, who ran the Atlanta Games and is now chairman of Augusta National, said he favors the sport being part of the Olympics.

``I'm a great advocate of golf being part of the program,'' Payne said at a press conference last week during the Masters. ``I think the pride of representing your country, which has already been displayed in golf through different kinds of formats, is very strong, very powerful, and wonderful theater and entertainment.''

The LPGA and the European PGA Tour already have indicated their support for Olympic golf, Finchem said. Golf's governing bodies, the U.S. Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, along with the PGA of America, are evaluating the prospect of golf in the Olympics.

The IOC constitution requires a seven-year lead period for new sports, making the 2016 Games the earliest golf could become part of the program, with a vote on the site of those Olympics scheduled next year. Finchem said he'll meet with the PGA Tour leadership and membership, as well as members of the world golfing community, to try to make that a reality.

``I look forward to joining with other golf leaders around the world in meeting with the leadership of the IOC in the next few months to further the possibility of including golf in the Olympic Games of 2016.


By Bob Bensch
bloomberg.com

[divingbrit]

Golf and the Olympics are a match not worth making

The Associated Press
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Tim Finchem's job is a fairly easy one these days, which may have been why he took some time off last week to jet down to Augusta and break bread with the keepers of the green jacket.

Finchem runs the PGA Tour, a job that reportedly pays him some $5 million a year. He earns it basically by keeping Tiger Woods happy while making sure some of the mega millions generated by Woods get doled out to other players.

Woods seems content lately, and there are a lot of new millionaires on tour. And although Finchem's new Fedex Cup may be a contrived exercise in corporate excess, he no longer has to explain what it is and why it is so important.

That's left the commissioner with a lot of spare time. He's apparently been using it to ponder the future of golf, and not just how it relates to the John Deere Classic. Finchem was pondering the bigger picture, and who better to ponder with than Augusta National chairman Billy Payne.

Not coincidentally, all that pondering led them to the same conclusion. They want golf in the Olympics.

Not in the Beijing Olympics, though the Chinese probably would have built a replica of Augusta National had golf had been on the schedule. And not in London in 2012, though the idea of an Olympic competition at St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf, is mildly intriguing.

But how about golf in the 2016 Olympics in Chicago or wherever the IOC puts those games. Anyone ever play 18 in Baku, Azerbaijan?

Finchem announced in a blog on the tour's web site that he was ready to work to get golf reinstated, putting the PGA Tour squarely behind efforts to get golf back in the Olympics for the first time since 1904. Though belated, his support just might be what's needed to get the IOC to seriously consider golf when it debates next year the addition of new sports.

Here's hoping that debate will be a short one. The Olympics need golf about as much as golf needs a fifth major.

Woods himself said as much a few years back. You would think Finchem would listen carefully to everything Woods says because the economic health of the tour is dependent on its superstar. On the off chance Finchem wasn't paying attention, Woods basically said golfers already have plenty of international competition without playing for Olympic medals.

Woods is right, which he usually is when it comes to matters in the sport he dominates. Players from around the world get together at the four major championships on the men's and women's tours every year, and there are enough Ryder, Presidents and Solheim cups to satisfy any nationalistic craving.

And then there would be the competition itself. The idea of Woods winning a gold medal for USA isn't nearly as appealing as the idea of Woods winning the Masters, partly because it lacks any historical significance and partly because golf would be just one of dozens of sports at the Olympics.

A gold medal might look good in the trophy case, but it would not crown the best player in the world. That traditionally takes place in the major championships, something that wouldn't change if golf were an Olympic sport.

In putting his weight behind the concept, Finchem said the exposure would help the game grow in countries where it is not popular and that Olympic money could be used to groom new players. But it's not likely that even Vijay Singh winning the first medal ever for Fiji would have them lining up for lessons in Lautoka.

The entire concept of golf in the Olympics just seems silly, especially when the games already are so overloaded with sports and athletes that baseball and softball were given the boot. Besides, Olympic organizers have enough problems without having to come up with luxury hotel rooms and courtesy cars for players who have grown accustomed to that convenience at even the smallest PGA Tour stops.

And then there is the havoc it would play with the other tournaments. Do you move a British Open or PGA Championship because they would conflict with the Olympics? Do top players, who already complain they are forced to play in too many tournaments, skip the Olympics to play in the Fedex Cup, which pays a whole lot more?

It's just not a good fit.

Golf and the Olympics parted ways more than a century ago, and both have done just fine.

There's no good reason to match them up again.

iht.com
could not agree more, (smiley)

[divingbrit]

Norman calls again for golf to be included in the Olympics
SHANGHAI: Former world number one Greg Norman yesterday called again for golf to be included in the Olympics, saying it would be due recognition of the sport's global appeal.

The Australian two-time British Open winner has been a long-time campaigner for the Olympic movement to embrace golf, and backs a model that would see nations field teams made up of professionals and amateurs.

“I had hoped to have played in the Olympics. That is a long time past me but hopefully other players will have the chance to experience it,” Norman, 53, said after carding a one-under 71 on the final day of the BMW Asian Open here.

“The game of golf is truly played on a global basis.

“It is played by all races and it is played on every continent.”

Norman said there were about 50 or 60 million people around the world who played golf.

“If you think about male and females professionals as well as the amateurs the game of golf canvases a lot of people,” he said.

Other prominent people in the sport to have recently made similar comments are US PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Billy Payne and world number two Phil Mickelson.

Golf was one of five sports – along with karate, roller sports, squash, and rugby – that applied for one of two spots in the 2012 London Olympic programme after baseball and softball were voted out.

But it was knocked out after three rounds of voting, and the two sports that advanced to the final stage of the process – karate and squash – both failed to win the two-thirds majority needed for inclusion in the Olympic line-up.

The last time golf was in the Olympics was in 1904, when Canadian George Lyon won gold. – AFP

[divingbrit]

Golf steps up moves to be included in 2016 Olympics - 26th May 2008, 18:45

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LEADERS of the European and US Tours have held discussions with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge over the possible inclusion of golf at the 2016 Games, it was revealed today.

European Tour chief executive George O'Grady said he and US Tour commissioner Tim Finchem met Rogge on Thursday in Lausanne, to discuss the sport's chances of joining the Olympics.

Nothing was agreed, O'Grady said.

"We now know all of the obstacles we have to overcome," O'Grady said today at a news conference at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

"We now know all of the ground rules we have to satisfy.

"We know the time scale when we have to present our case.

"We know the support we have to have from around the world."

Golf has not been an Olympic sport since 1904, when Canadian George Lyon won the gold medal.

Talks on its inclusion again have been held intermittently for the past 25 years.

O'Grady said many of the minor tours the European Tour represents want golf to become an Olympic sport again because of the increased government funding they would receive.

www.insidethegames.com

[divingbrit]

Golf presents united front to get Olympic inclusion


Don't hold your breath, but on a positive note, the world's major golf tours and ruling associations finally are presenting a united front supporting the sport's return to Olympic competition for the first in time in more than 100 years.

PGATour commissioner Tim Finchem, the European Tour's George O'Grady, and Carolyn Bivens of the LPGA Tour - with Peter Dawson and David Fay, heads of the Royal & Ancient Club and United States Golf Association, respectively, and the world's principal governing authorities for the sport - met International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge this week. By all accounts, the right things were said about "growing the game" and what inclusion in the Olympics would mean for the sport worldwide.

The PGA Tour previously opposed the idea for various reasons, but now Finchem is leading the charge in a new bid that is definitely seen as having legs.

"It was important that the IOC saw the game was united, which I think they were impressed with," Finchem said following the meeting. "That got accomplished. It's a long way, there are other sports competing for the same spots. We like to think we're what they want, because we're a sport that's universal."

Golf hasn't been an Olympic sport since 1904, when Canadian George Lyon won the gold medal. An attempt was made to get golf into the 1996 Atlanta Games. That didn't happen primarily because the event was slated to be held at Augusta National. While the PGA Tour wasn't concerned with the club's male-only membership policy, it went contrary to Olympic ideals.

The last attempt was in 2005, but golf received the fewest votes of five sports in contention. Decisions were made at the same time to drop softball and baseball for the 2012 London Olympics, but both will seek reinstatement for 2016 and will be among seven sports, including rugby, squash, karate and roller sports, in the hunt for two available spots.

Golf's united front will make a formal presentation to the IOC in October 2009.

As far as the host city for the 2016 Olympics, in the running are Baku in Azerbaijan, Doha in Qatar, Madrid, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Chicago. The short list comes out next month and the final selection will be made in October 2009.

Chicago would have an in as far golf in the Olympics. The city is home to the Medinah Country Club, which has played host to five major championships, including two PGA Championships won by Tiger Woods in 1999 and 2006. Woods would be 40 in 2016, and by then an Olympic gold medal likely would be the only thing left for him to win.

He said it:

"It's true. Through all the stretching and stuff with my trainers, I've probably grown a half inch to an inch. I've known I'd become taller, but didn't think it would affect my putting. Obviously it did."

Phil Mickelson explaining why he recently switched from a 33 1⁄2-inch putter to one that's 35 inches long. Lefty has gone from 6-2 to 6-3 and believes he's gotten taller for the same reason major-league pitchers stretch their arms out to slightly longer than normal through constant exercises and repeated pitching motion.

nationalpost.com

[divingbrit]

Ghana to host All Africa Golf Championship 2012

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Ghana will host the 2012 edition of the All Africa Golf Championship. The tournament, co-sponsored by Royal and Ancient, the home of golf in Scotland is meant for amateur golfers across the continent.

John Wartemburg, Secretary of the Ghana Golf Association (GGA) told the GNA Sports that after identifying the youth as the key to the success of the sport it was now more than committed to the hosting of the 2012 edition of the annual championship.


He explained that the nation's dream of hosting the championship will be enhanced by the upgrading of one or two golf clubs in the country to meet international standards.

Mr Wartemburg lamented the poor financial state of the association and called on the members and the corporate world to assist in the development of the sport to dispel the perception by the public that the sport was for the affluent.

"The Association is very poor financially since it only survives on the support and benevolence of sponsors to organize events." He added that even though the Association is one of 30 disciplines affiliated to the National Sports Council (NSC), it is yet to benefit from any form of financial support to develop the sport.

The Secretary therefore appealed to the media to improve on its coverage of golf championship to create the needed awareness among the general public. Ghana made her maiden appearance at the All Africa championship in April 2007 in Zimbabwe.

news.accra-mail.com

[divingbrit]

Double boost for golf's Olympic bid -
GOLF'S hopes of being included on the Olympic programme for 2016 tonight received a double boost after a former Master's champion said he wanted to play in the Games and a new survey showed that the public were in favour of it.

Canadian Mike Weir said he believes that including golf as an Olympic event would help the game grow as a global sport.

He is backed by a new poll published by Sports Marketing Surveys Ltd, which found that just over 50 per cent of the public backed golf being part of the Olympics.

Weir, the 2003 Master's champion, said that watching the Beijing Olympics on television had made him think that it would be exciting to be part of the parade of athletes during the Games' opening ceremony.

He said: "It would be a thrill.

"It would be an honour to represent your country in the Olympics.

"I think it would be great for the game."

The endorsement of Weir, who has so far won $2.7 million (£1.5 million) this year, is important because it the perception among many members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is that the top players, including Tiger Woods, are not commited to the idea of the sport being part of the Games programme.

The 38-year-old said: "By the time it passes I might be senior tour material, but hopefully I'll still be competitive enough to play.

"It would be something to work towards if we knew it was out there, the apple out there in seven or eight years."

In August, Phil Mickelson, a winner of three Majors, had claimed that if golf was admitted it to the Olympics it would be the most prestigious tournament in the sport to win.

Golf is one of seven sports hoping to be elected onto the programme the IOC Session in Copenhagen in October 2009 alongside baseball, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens, squash and softball

insidethegames.com

[divingbrit]

Nicklaus, Sorenstam lend Olympic support

The International Golf Federation rolled out its big guns today when Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam were introduced as “global ambassadors” for the effort to make golf an Olympic sport.

Golf hasn’t been part of the Olympics since its debut in1904, when only the United States and Canada fielded players. Seven sports are vying to gain Olympic status for the 2016 Games – baseball, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens, softball, squash and golf. The Olympic charter limits the Summer Games to 28 sports. The 2012 London Games will feature 26, meaning only two of the seven applicants for 2016 will be added.

With Nicklaus and Sorenstam campaigning on its behalf, the International Golf Federation hopes to persuade the International Olympic Committee that the game’s biggest names – and top TV draws – have embraced the movement and will be enthusiastic participants. (The IGF, comprised of 116 national governing bodies representing 111 countries, is recognized by the IOC as golf’s official Olympic lobbyist.)

“Golf’s Olympic bid is of enormous importance to the game,” said Peter Dawson, head of the R&A and co-chair of the IGF. “Not only will it enhance the competitive landscape of our sport, but it will also do an enormous amount to assist the growth of the game, especially in countries where golf is relatively new, and where Olympic sports receive a lot more attention than non-Olympic sports.”

Efforts to have golf added to the Olympic program in Atlanta, Beijing and London went nowhere. The IOC took note that PGA Tour was against the concept, fearing it would siphon fan interest and marquee players from the Tour during Olympic years. Commissioner Tim Finchem finally gave in last year to mounting pressure from the R&A, the U.S. Golf Association and other members of the International Federation of PGA Tours and agreed to support the initiative. (Olympics Examiner Meri-Jo Borzilleri believes Finchem should have stuck to his guns, arguing that the Olympic Games don't need golf, and golf doesn't need the Games.)

To demonstrate good faith, Finchem lent Ty Votaw, his Executive Vice President of Communications and International Affairs (and former commissioner of the LPGA), to serve as executive director of the IGF Olympic Golf Committee. Meanwhile, the game’s ruling bodies and pro tours last year implemented an anti-doping policy (again over Finchem’s resistence) in order to be in compliance with Olympic regulations.

Votaw may be the Olympic golf movement’s spokesman, but Dawson is the driving force. The R&A has a much broader world view than the PGA Tour, and it is eager for golf to gain Olympic status – as should the golf industry at large – because struggling golf federations in neophyte golf nations figure to gain an infusion of government cash, which in turn would enable them to train athletes capable of competing on the Olympic stage. Interest in the game would surge, the theory goes, and translate into more golf consumers worldwide. Think about China’s medal dominance at the Beijing Games. If the China Golf Federation got the same government support as the nation’s gymnastics and swimming programs, it’s not difficult to envision a significantly more diverse competitive golf landscape by 2030, perhaps sooner.

A month ago, Votaw and Dawson made the IGF’s formal presentation to the IOC Program Commission. Next they must complete an IOC questionnaire the Program Committee will use to evaluate golf’s suitability for the Games. In June, they return to Switzerland for a second presentation to the IOC, this time accompanied by Nicklaus and Sorenstam. IOC members no doubt will pick up their phones and hear Jack or Annika on the line at least once before October, when golf’s fate will be decided in Denmark.

Votaw and Dawson expressed cautious optimism that the IOC will look favorably upon golf now that it’s presenting a unified front. They were asked what lingering objections need to be addressed before the IOC renders its decision.

“I don’t know if that’s been articulated to us in any kind of meaningful way,” Votaw said. “The reaction we’ve received back from the IOC members we’ve spoken with, and at the presentation we made in November, has been very positive.”

Votaw attended the Beijing Games, where he said Olympic officials did seek assurance that golf is “united in its effort to make this happen,” and that the top players supported the concept of Olympic participation.

“The other issue we have been asked about quite often is the golf calendar,” Dawson said. “Because we do have all the bodies represented … who have the power to adjust golf’s schedules, we have indicated to the IOC that if golf is successful in its Olympic bid, we will make sure that the schedules are adjusted in both the men’s game and women’s game to accommodate (the Olympics).”

Dawson added “an increasing number of present-day players are also lending their support. It’s quite a wave of support that we’re now experiencing. But to have two of the greatest figures in the game in Annika Sorenstam and Jack Nicklaus to join our bid as global ambassadors I’m quite sure is going to give our work a tremendous boost and a tremendous fillip.”


Maybe so, but Votaw hedged when asked how optimistic he was about golf's chances. He said the IGF Olympic Committee agreed it would “conduct the bid process in a manner that’s consistent with the values and the ethos of our sport. All you can do is do the best you can do. …If you shoot 63 and your opponent shoots 62, you’ve done the best you can."


In other words, let's hope two of the other six contenders for 2016 don't post red numbers.

Examiner.com - USA