Olympic golf will be universal, says Dawson

By Gerard Meagher, Sportsbeat

 ROYAL and Ancient chief executive Peter Dawson remains adamant golf will have universal appeal at the Olympics after it was added to the 2016 schedule along with rugby sevens.

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Dawson, who is also acting president of the International Golf Federation at present, spearheaded the final presentation at the IOC Session in Copenhagen before seeing the vote go 63-27 in golf's favour.

Golf will now be a part of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro with the format comprising of 72 holes of strokeplay with 60 men and 60 women taking part.

Following the presentation, which featured speeches from three-time major winner Padraig Harrington as well as the USA's Michelle Wie, golf's bidding team was given somewhat of a grilling from the IOC members in comparison to rugby sevens, which received an 81 to eight majority.

A key concern among a number of the voting members was with regards to how the format could limit golf to only the elite countries, but Dawson was quick to refute such claims.

"The top 15 players according to the official world rankings will get into the competition regardless of how many there are from each country," said Dawson.

"But then after that only two people from each country will get in and if you look at the current world rankings you will see that is quite encompassing.

"When you have people from Argentina and Korea winning two of this year's four major competitions the chance of one country dominating at the Olympics is very small.

"Don't forget we also had restrictions placed on us from the IOC because they do not want to increase the number of competitors at the Olympics to more than their 10,500 limit."

While the four majors currently dominate the annual golf calendar, the Ryder Cup - a biennial team event between Europe against the USA - remains one of the showcase events of the sport.

But Dawson dismissed suggestions a team event at the Olympics was viable, and also acknowledged the likelihood of any amateur players qualifying was remote.

"The IOC made it clear to us that teams that essentially just add up individual components were not very welcome at the Olympics," he said.

"If it is not a sport like hockey or football with team interaction we were advised to opt against making a team bid.

"It is technically possible for amateurs to move up the rankings but I realise it is unlikely. But in the future we would hope to have qualifying tournaments to widen the scope of potential players."   

In the aftermath of the presentation, one issue to be raised by the IOC members was golfers' commitment to the Olympic movement.

But Harrington was adamant he and his colleagues would not be making flying visits to the Olympics.

"In a very similar way that I would be desperate to stay in the Olympic Village, I believe the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony would be just as important as the competition itself," he added.