DECISION 2016: Golf has perfect case for Olympic inclusion

ON Thursday the International Olympic Committee convene in Berlin to trim a shortlist of seven sports aspiring for a place at the 2016 Games down to two.

Last week, each of the sports - baseball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens, softball and squash - made their case. Now Sportsbeat reporters choose their personal preference and Gerard Meagher is backing golf.

 

WHEN Mark Twain uttered the phrase ‘a good walk spoiled' he probably had no idea he had coined such an eternal mantra for golf sceptics.

 
GOLDEN BEAR: Jack Nicklaus, who has 18 major championship wins to his name, is a firm supporter of golf at the Olympics (Getty Images)

Keen subscribers to the theory go as far as to question golf's status as a sport.

You don't need to be in peak physical condition nor in your prime to excel they lament, it takes far too long they howl and it's mind-numbing to watch.

And they, who wouldn't know a sand wedge from a ploughman's, would associate golf with darts, dominoes or poker - a game, possibly a hobby, but a sport and furthermore a sport to be included in the Olympics? Heresy.

Philistines, I say.

The most popular counter-argument to Twain's is that where the golfer purrs about that one moment they strike the ball with effortless timing and watch it soar - something the philistines would know nothing about.

And for a sport to be added to the Olympics it must fulfill certain criteria. The criteria of the IOC centres on ideals such as universality. The rest of the world (who I have chosen to speak for) wants to be captivated by unique and intense competition at the highest level.

Golf does all that and more. It is a sport that has an unerring quality to infuriate. Both for those who play it and those who don't.

Those who wouldn't dream of standing on the first tee come rain or shine are enraged by golf's seeming pompousness, its elitism and its fastidiousness.

But those in golf's corner see red when they inevitably slice, hook and shank the ball across fairway after fairway before suffering the indignity of having to go and look for it.

It can make even the most talented and mild mannered bludgeon the ground like a Ritalin-starved nine-year-old and have everyone from village hacker to seasoned pro coming back for more - what other sport can lay claim to that?

Take the legend of the golfer who shoots 17 birdies before having to settle for par on the 18th and final hole and arrives at the 19th with a face like a chastised behind.

Golf is the ultimately doomed but archetypal pursuit of perfection and what is the Olympics if not the quest for perfection?

What is more, it has a global viewing audience of 231 million households, with 60 million players, appeals to all ages and would be on offer to both men and women at the Olympics.

There is nothing like it currently on the Olympic schedule, which is saturated with what are essentially linear sports such as athletics, rowing and swimming to name but a few.

And in competing for inclusion at the 2016 Olympics against squash, karate, baseball, softball, roller sports and rugby sevens, there can only be one winner.

Watching squash is comparably enjoyable to going to the dentist; baseball and softball had their chance and failed; karate can surely only be added as a replacement for either judo or taekwondo; roller sports - it's the Olympics not a circus - and rugby sevens (my second choice incidentally) is not rugby in its purest form.

It may be a touch old-fashioned and perhaps Tiger and co would take a green jacket over a gold medal every time but surely a sport so adept at reducing grown men to tears belongs in the greatest show on earth.

What do you think? Comment now or vote in our poll.

Read Sportsbeat's James Toney make the case for roller sports while George Scott is backing rugby sevens and Chris Cottrell is fighting squash's corner.