The
Buzz(kıll)
in Brazil
The Zika virus and a packed
schedule has made golf’s return
to the Olympics a tough sell
by LEONARD SHAPIRO
American Lexi Thompson is thrilled to represent her country
in Rio. But concerns about the Zika virus have led others like
Marc Leishman, who lives in Virginia Beach, to stay away.
W
hen golf was added to the list of Olympic sports for
the 2016 and 2020 Games, the sport’s top officials
hailed it as a major breakthrough, a chance to
grow the game around the world and make it
even more visible in huge population centers like
Russia and China.
However, among the top professionals on the PGA Tour, many
complained about a variety of issues since the sport was last
contested in the Olympics in 1904, including the format—a standard
low four-round score wins the tournament, just like most of the
events they already play. Others thought it should be contested in a
team format, much like the Ryder or Presidents Cup.
They also were not happy about having to build their busy
schedules around an August event that comes in the middle of a
three-week stretch that begins with the PGA Championship and
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ends with the start of the FedEx Cup, the most lucrative series
of events on their tour. A 17-week run that started on June 1 with
Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament also included three major
championships, a World Golf Championship, three FedEx Cup
playoffs and the Tour Championship.
There were other concerns, chief among them the Zika virus
scare, with Rio a prime breeding ground for a disease with no cure.
The Zika infection in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a
birth defect marked by a baby’s small head size that can lead to
serious developmental issues. Zika also has been linked to GuillainBarre syndrome, a neurological problem that can cause temporary
paralysis in adults.
At least six big-time players, four of them major champions, have
already pulled out of the Games, including Australians Adam Scott
and Marc Leishman, who now lives in Virginia Beach, South Africans
Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel and Fiji’s Vijay Singh and
Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez. By the time the Games begin on
Aug. 5, there surely will be more.
They have all cited a variety of reasons for not participating—their
hectic schedules, Zika, political unrest in Brazil, too much travel and
too much time away from their families.
Scott, the first Australian to win the Masters, has come under
withering criticism back home when he cited too much time away
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