Can Olympic Golf be captivating?

By Erik Thompson

This weekend I will be experiencing something that very well could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I will see the Olympic torch for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics run through my hometown of Taber, Alberta.

Taber is pulling out all the stops to make this a very big celebration, and very unique, so it will be something to remember. Having been just months old when the Calgary Olympics took place all I have is stories from my family to go by but this time around it will surely be a memorable event.

With the Olympic spirit in mind, one has to wonder when golf will get its due, if ever, and be granted the prestigious honour of being an Olympic sport.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics we saw baseball’s final Games play out in favour of the newer and more exciting motor cross events. Personally I think baseball is as much an Olympic sport as track and field or diving but Olympic organizers want to appeal to the younger generation thus the X-game-inspired motor cross events debuting in Beijing as an Olympic sport.

I think golf could face the same issues as baseball in that it doesn’t appeal to a large percentage of the younger generations. Golf is proposed and being considered as the next Olympic sport to enter the summer Games but with recent trends it is hard to believe it will pass, if the trend is to appeal to a younger audience.

For those of us who follow golf, how would a four-day Olympic tournament compare to the Masters or the British Open? I don’t think it would have the same hype.

Much like tennis, where the highlight of 2008 was not the Olympic Games but the Wimbledon final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, which is already considered one of the greatest matches of all time, golf may experience the same fate. I can’t imagine an event like the Olympics taking away from the limelight of the majors.

For example in 2009, the Masters went to a playoff, the British Open captivated the viewers with 71-year-old Tom Watson, the U.S. open had us on the edge of our seats even though there was no clear favourite come Sunday, and the PGA Championship featured a historical comeback by YE Yang or historical collapse by Tiger Woods – depending on how you look at it.

Can the Olympics really join the ranks of these events? I truly do not believe so. The history, the allure and the unknown of these prestigious events is what makes us watch them. We wonder, can Tiger hold off the field? Will we see a new first-time winner? That is what makes me watch golf. To see the best athletes in the world put to the test by the hardest courses in the world.

Should golf find its way into the Olympics I will definitely watch as a fan but it won’t have the same appeal as a major to me. I think it would just be another tournament on the schedule.