Paris attracts world's best male golfers after Rio ambivalence

By Iain Carter, BBC golf correspondent

When golf returned to the Olympics in 2016 after a 112-year hiatus, only six of the top dozen male players in the world showed up for the Rio Games.

In the absence of the then-top four players in the world - Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy - the sport's return generated a fair amount of ambivalence both within golf and the wider sporting community.

While the threat of contracting the Zika virus was cited as a reason not to travel to Brazil, there was also a feeling that several top stars had not embraced the notion that golf should be an Olympic sport.

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Indeed, elaborating on his Zika fears, McIlroy made it abundantly clear just a few weeks before the tournament that he had no enthusiasm for golf's return.

The inclusion of the sport in the Games still generates plenty of debate. The argument that if a gold medal is not the absolute pinnacle then it should not be included in the Games is one with which many sports fans empathise.

But, as we await the start of the men's tournament in Paris, there has been a discernible shift of opinion from the world's best golfers.

Shane Lowry is still pinching himself after carrying the Irish flag at last Friday's opening ceremony.

"It was an amazing experience and something that I'll remember forever," said the 2019 Open champion as he prepares for Thursday's first tee shot at le Golf National.

"It was a big honour … memories for a lifetime and just even being there and being around the other athletes, it was pretty cool."

Lowry admits it was something he could not have envisaged growing up as a golfer and said: "It was an amazing experience."

For this, the third Olympic golf competition since the sport's readmission, the only players missing from the top 10 are two Americans who were ineligible because there are a maximum four other compatriots above them in the rankings.

So Patrick Cantlay (world number eight) and Bryson DeChambeau (nine) miss out because top dog Scottie Scheffler, Open and US PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa are all in the top six in the world.

The charismatic DeChambeau is the big miss. The US Open champion would surely be ranked higher if he did not play on the breakaway LIV circuit which does not qualify for ranking points.

"I think that's the nature of qualification for the Olympics," McIlroy observed. "You could have the fifth-best sprinter in the world but if he's from a certain country, he's not able to make it.

"So I think it's just the way that the qualification works in the Olympic Games, and that's not just in golf."

Despite his recent U-turn to a more accepting view on LIV's presence in the golfing firmament, the 35-year-old four-time major winner has little sympathy.

"It's hard to compare the golf that they play to the golf that we play," he said.

"That's the reason they didn't get world ranking points. If you want to qualify for the Olympics, you knew what you had to do.

"Just like if you wanted to qualify for the Ryder Cup, you knew what you had to do. They were very aware of the decision they made when they did."

But, given the varying levels of strength in depth in various countries, seven LIV players do make the Olympic field, including Spaniards Jon Rahm and David Puig. The latter secured his place by making the cut at June's US Open at Pinehurst.

"Making the cut wasn't the main goal of the event but the first round (76) was pretty tough," said the exciting 22-year-old Spaniard.

"But my second round, the goal was to make the cut and make the Olympic team.

"There were nerves, but they were good nerves and they helped me to perform well on Friday. After the round, I was happy with the score I got (68) and proud of making the team."

Rahm, the 2023 Masters champion, arrived for his Olympic debut after securing his first LIV win at the JCB course in Staffordshire last Sunday.

"It was important for many reasons," Rahm said of his first victory since that Augusta triumph.

"When you put yourself in position the next time, you obviously have that covered that you've done that already; I've been there, done it recently."

The Olympic competition mirrors the established tours in being 72-hole individual strokeplay. Many observers believe it would be a more engaging set-up if there was a team element.

"We are here representing Spain," Rahm said.

"Whether as a combined sport or us playing together, to be able to represent Spain, that would be extremely nice to share the stage with another player, to do something different, to maybe what we do every other day."

There is talk of including a mixed competition in Los Angeles in 2028 in the gap between the men's and women's events which has won widespread support from several players.

But in Paris, the strongest ever Olympic golf tournament, it is an individual pursuit. Tommy Fleetwood has spoken of his "pride" at representing Great Britain for the second Games running.

Matt Fitzpatrick is the other British competitor this week because he was ranked higher than Scotland's Bob MacIntyre at the cut-off point for qualification.

Fleetwood has the fondest of memories of Le Golf National having won all four of his matches with Francesco Molinari when he made his Ryder Cup debut there in 2018.

The course set up is similar to how it was for that contest which was resoundingly won by Thomas Bjorn's European team, with thick rough and a demanding finish where water dominates many of the closing holes.

It could make for a dramatic climax to the chase for Olympic gold.

Players still rate the majors higher but as Justin Rose showed with his Rio success in 2016 and Schauffele in Covid-hit Tokyo three years ago, finishing on top of an Olympic podium means an awful lot.

McIlroy lost a seven-way play-off for bronze in Japan to Taiwan's CT Pan but was thoroughly won over by the Olympic experience.

He said: "Where would an Olympic medal sit in the hierarchy of my career achievements?

"I don't know if anything will be able to sit alongside the majors. We have our four events a year that are the gold standard. But I think this is going to be, in time, right up there among that."

- This story was first published by the BBC