And Jordan Spieth makes it a foursome. But it’s not the kind of foursome the International Olympic Committee had expected. Spieth let it be known that he would not be competing for Team USA at the Olympics and his withdrawal has all of the top four golfers in the world passing on the Olympics.
Spieth called Peter Dawson of the International Golf Federation with the news and this has to be the biggest of body blows for golf’s inclusion in the games. Each of these golfers have a tremendous following and Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy are popular golfers but Speith is a world wide phenomenon.
And until recently he had been adamant about playing but as the weeks went by his enthusiasm waned to the point he decided to pass. He’ll have to answer questions on Tuesday at his press conference before the Open Championship and he’ll certainly be peppered with questions on his withdrawal.
Speculation was that Spieth would play not only because of his previous commitment to the games but he cashes big checks from Coke as its brand ambassador and Coke is a huge Olympic sponsor. But even with that he pulled out and maybe that’s impressive, that he didn’t succumb to pressure from a contract.
But this Olympic Games has been pelted with problems. The schedule, the lack of security, the financial collapse and the topper is the Zika virus. So many problems…so many withdrawals.
I think many players were cool to playing in the Olympics from the start. There were just so many things going against making it comfortable for these players to interrupt their season.
But this I am pretty sure of. If this Zika virus stays with us and spreads to other countries say like maybe France where the 2018 Ryder Cup will be held in Paris and players are faced with a similar choose.
No player, not a one would decline to play in the Ryder Cup…Zika or no Zika.
And that’s the heart of the matter here: to today’s male players the Olympics just don’t matter that much.
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