The Loop
Golf Digest Podcast: Why are so many golfers saying no to the Olympics, and will there be more?
Rory McIlroy. Graeme McDowell. Branden Grace. Jason Day. Shane Lowry. Within the last eight days, this fivesome of prominent male golfers, four of whom are in the top 25 of the World Ranking (including No. 1 Day), announced they will not competing when golf returns to the Olympics in August for the first time since 1904. They join Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Marc Leishman and Vijay Singh among top male golfers choosing to skip the trip to Rio.
Is that the end of the exodus? Or should International Golf Federation officials be bracing for more WDs, including some women, between now and July 11, the date when qualifying ends and the 120 golfers eligible to compete in the Games are determined. Golf Digest editors Sam Weinman, Joel Beall, Matthew Rudy and myself take aim at these questions and others surrounding the Olympics in an emergency edition of the Golf Digest Podcast.