Today, on the final day of the 72-hole strokeplay event at the Rio Games 2016, two Indians—Anirban Lahiri and SSP Chawrasia—will be amongst a group of 60 golfers who will indelibly add ‘Olympic athlete’ to their list of achievements. The significance of that moniker, a first for golfers in the Open era, cannot be understated—both for the players and the game itself.
Researching on the previous two occasions that golf was part of the Games—1900 (Paris) and 1904 (St Louis)—I discovered an unexpected connection with India: Margaret Abbott, the winner of the first Ladies event in 1900, was born in Calcutta in 1878. At this point, you can’t help but stop and picture the golfing culture in the erstwhile capital city. Royal Calcutta Golf Club and Tollygunge were already hubs of the game and arguably the best layouts in the world outside the British Isles. You also can’t help but wonder, ruefully, whether a teenaged Abbot knew that those years were heydays for the game and those courses. Kolkata still has only those two courses… but this is not the occasion for critical digressions.
Abbot, who honed her skills later at the Chicago Golf Club was living in Paris in 1900 and shot a 47 to win the nine-hole tournament at the Compiegne Club. That score, very modest by today’s standards, ensured her place in history as the first American woman to win an Olympic event.
Another interesting factoid about the 1900 Games is that the events were spread out over six months and popularly known as the ‘Championnats Internationaux’ rather than as the Olympics. This meant that for many years, even gold medallists did not realise that they had competed in the Olympics. Abbot, I imagine, would have never known that people would still be writing a century later about one round she played on a windy day on a course in Paris’ suburbs. A tussle between the Royal and Ancient (R&A) and the Olympics organising committee led to golf being dropped from Olympic annals when the Games were played in London in 1908. And that was the status quo, till 2016 that is.
I can’t think of a better story to illustrate the power and significance of the greatest sporting spectacle in recorded history. To win a gold medal at the Olympics means, as a sportsperson you’ve found the holy grail. And once you’ve drunk the elixir that comes with a gold medal here, you’re immortal. That legacy will endure forever.
Which is why sportspeople spend their entire careers in pursuit of that dream, working single-mindedly, training, competing and sacrificing. Canadian golfer Graham DeLaet summed up the difference succinctly. “It’s different for a golfer,” DeLaet said. “We played last week, we come down here for a week, we’re in Greensboro next week and the (FedExCup) Playoffs start right away. But when you see how much this means to the other athletes, they’ve been working at this for four straight years and they are trying to peak for this time… The pride and the excitement that they have—that’s been the neatest thing for me to see. Just how much this means to those other people.”
And that’s what makes the spate of withdrawals by golfers—who’ve qualified for the Games—incredibly shortsighted. As much as I like McIlroy and appreciate his candour, the Ulsterman’s comments about being in the game to win, rather bring other people into the game, are hard to condone. The four top-ranked players in the world—McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day—have snubbed the Games, citing concerns over the Zika virus.
In his column in a daily earlier this week, Asian Tour player Shiv Kapur suggested that participation in Rio would have been better had it been played in a team format rather than as an individual event. There’s no arguing with Kapur’s logic: a team event, especially one in which national pride is involved, is a bigger motivator than individual glory (pursuit of which is second nature to professional golfers).
Certainly, at the last Games in 1904 in which golf was included, there was a cornucopia of events rather than just one strokeplay competition: 74 Americans and three Canadians competed in team and individual matchplay events. Adding to the fun were non-Olympic driving contests, putting contests at night under the lights, handicap events, flights for non-qualifiers and match-play losers, and team Nassau competitions.
One player who’s really embraced the 2016 Olympics is Justin Rose. “There is so much more to this week than just the golf,” said Rose, who etched his name in the record books by becoming the first player to record a hole-in-one, which he did on the fourth hole on Thursday. Rose attended Friday night’s spectacular opening ceremony at the Maracana—even stopping to take a selfie with Team GB flagbearer Andy Murray and admitted that he considered it a once-in-a-lifetime occasion. “Walking out in a jam-packed Maracana Stadium, it’s something not many people ever get the chance to experience.”
Rose is soaking in the atmosphere by staying at the Olympic Village. “Meeting the other athletes… the camaraderie in the village has been incredible. You are around like-minded people—people who are very disciplined, who have trained hard to be there, who want to make the most of the experience. It’s an inspiring place to be.”
Lahiri is making the most of his Games appearance. “Of course, I’m very excited. It’s a special feeling to represent your country at the Olympics. This is not something that I expected while growing up, being a part of the majors and the Olympics. I love being an Olympian, being part of it all. Eventually, however, it’s about being a medal-winner. Getting a medal will make it truly memorable.”
For Irishman Padraig Harrington, merely the act of being part of the Games is good enough. “Every week we play, 156 guys tee it up—and there’s 155 losers,” Harrington said. “This week, 60 guys tee it up—and 60 winners. We’re all winners. Every guy is…teeing it up here, thinking, ‘Life is good. I’m an Olympic athlete.’ “ Perhaps the best quip came from Major-winner Bubba Watson when asked whether he would gamble on the 72nd hole if the difference between gold and silver was in the balance. With a straight face, Watson retorted, “I’m laying up for bronze.”
A golfer, Meraj Shah also writes about the game
