ron sirak olympics 1-16 - virtually certain missy · title: ron sirak olympics 1-16 created date:...
TRANSCRIPT
How They Could Have Done Olympic Golf By Ron Sirak January 6, 2016
Golf returns to the Olympics in August for the first time since 1904 for the men and for the first time ever for the women with 60-‐player fields competing in 72 holes of stroke play for both. Well, that’s sort of boring, no? Isn’t that what we have multiple times virtually every week of the year all around the world?
Here’s a better idea, literally. Better-‐ball, match play with 64 two-‐person teams for both the men and women, more than doubling each field to 128 players.
In addition to being different – and how compelling is better-‐ball, match play in the Ryder, Solheim and Presidents Cups? – there are a bunch of other advantages.
This format would be less penalizing to the best players. Everyone in the top-‐25 could be guaranteed a spot in the field. That would give the U.S. 14 players (seven teams) instead of four players it has under the present system while Australia and Great Britain would get four competitors instead of two. Korea would get 14 players instead of four for the women and the U.S. would get six instead of three.
Under the current system, as of Jan. 1, ten of the top-‐25 men in the Official World Golf Rankings – nine of them Americans – and 11 of the top 25 women in the Rolex Rankings – eight Koreans and three Americans – would be left out. Included, instead, would be 14 players ranked outside the top 200 for the men and 22 women outside the top 200.
Under the system I propose, there would be a cap of four players per country for those outside the top-‐25, providing ample opportunity for plenty of nations to compete – probably near the three-‐dozen represented under the present format. Also, the teams would be seeded. Why penalize the good players for being good? You want the best in the finals. Still, there will be upsets. That’s part of the beauty of match play.
Speaking of the finals, how cool would the third-‐place match be? The final match would be for gold and silver, but the winner of the other match gets the bronze while the loser goes home with no medal. Now that’s a consolation match that matters. Oh well, maybe in 2020. – Ron Sirak