Tiger and Golf’s Big Miss at the 2016 Olympics

You may have heard by now that golf is finally returning to the Olympics this year.  You may also be wondering why everyone is making such a big deal about it.  Basically, all the hub-bub around golf’s return to the Olympics is due to the fact that it has been over 100 years since golf has been an Olympic sport.

In fact, the last time golf was included in the summer Olympics was back in 1904, in St. Louis of all places, and it had only two countries competing against one another in the event, the United States and Canada.

Fast forward to 2009, a span in which golf has seen incredible success, expansion, and globalization thanks primarily to the phenomenon known as Tiger Woods—but credit should also go to this new generation of golfers including Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, and Rickie Fowler.  In 2009, the International Golf Federation, along with professional golfers such as Padraig Harrington and Michelle Wie, gave a presentation to the International Olympic Committee about reinstating the sport for both the 2016 and 2020 Olympics.  Finally, in October of that same year, the IOC voted to officially make golf an Olympic sport.

This in it of itself is a big deal.  But I can’t help but think it’s about 10 to 15 years too late.

Remembering the Olympic Dream Team

At the 1988 Summer Olympics, the United States national basketball team, which included amateurs David Robinson, Danny Manning, Mitch Richmond, and Dan Majerle, won a bronze medal.  The only game they lost was against the Russian national team.  Looking at this roster, you would say it was a pretty good collection of talent.  But for others, these amateur athletes did not represent the actual level of competition across the world.  So in 1989, it was agreed to allow professionals to compete in the Olympics.  Coincidentally enough, the decision was made despite both America and Russia voting against the move.

Nevertheless, USA Basketball asked the NBA to supply players for its 1992 Olympics roster.

And the Dream Team was born.

Led by the one and only Michael Jordan, the team also included such names and future Hall of Famers as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, and Karl Malone.  In fact, 11 of the 12 players and three of the four coaches would go on to be elected into basketball’s Hall of Fame.

Sports Illustrated would later state that the Dream Team was “arguably the most dominant squad ever assembled in any sport.”  It was a team that superseded the world of basketball and became a world-wide cultural phenomenon.

The global impact to basketball was incredible due to the Dream Team.  The year of those Olympics, there were 23 international players on NBA rosters.  Ten years later, that number would more than triple to 74.

By now, you are likely wondering what in the world the 1992 USA basketball team has to do with golf and the 2016 summer Olympics.

Simply put: Tiger Woods.  Or, more appropriately, the lack, thereof.

The Olympics Without Tiger Woods

In 1992, despite all of the future Hall of Famers on the Dream Team, if Michael Jordan were missing, it would simply be incomplete.  And from a fan’s perspective, as fun as the Dream Team would still be to watch, without seeing the absolute greatest player in the game compete for a gold medal, we would all be left wanting more.

Back in 2009, when the decision was made to include golf in the 2016 Olympics, it was a foregone conclusion that we would get to watch the greatest golfer in a generation—golf’s version of Michael Jordan—compete for a gold medal.  Even as recently as 2014, Tiger would have been one of the four Americans to qualify.

But, alas, 2014 is a long time ago.  And here we are without Tiger for the foreseeable future.

That doesn’t stop me from imagining what it would be like to see Woods, paired up with Jordan, Bubba, or Rickie, to compete for the United States.  Going up against the new blood across the globe that was either introduced to the game by Tiger Woods or inspired by watching him dominate it.  Maybe we would be able to see a Tiger and Jordan versus Adam Scott and Jason Day for the gold medal.  Or maybe our dynamic American duo goes up against McIlroy and Lowry for the gold.

Love him or hate him, you cannot ignore the significance of Woods missing from this summer’s 2016 Olympic competition.  Believe it or not, there were those that hated Michael Jordan—talk to Cavaliers or Pistons fans.  They stopped hating him, at least for a summer, when he was wearing the stars and stripes and trying to win us a gold medal.  Arguably the same would have happened this summer.  We all would have felt a sense of pride seeing Tiger Woods at the podium, wearing red, white, and blue, with a gold medal around his neck, while the national anthem played.

2004 Could Have Been Golf’s Year of the Dream Team, For Several Countries

Each country’s golf team will be built based on the current Official World Golf Rankings.  So we’re likely going to see the familiar names of Spieth, Day, Fowler, Watson, and McIlory competing in the Olympics.  And that’s all well and good.

Now let’s pretend this decision was made in 1999 and golf was going to be at the Olympics in 2004.

Allow me to provide a few names from the 2004 World Golf Rankings.

Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen, Mike Weir, Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Nick Price, Miguel Jimenez, and, of course, Tiger Woods.  I could go on if you’d like, or you can see the full list here.

Many would argue this was golf at its very peak.  Tiger Woods was dominating the sport, bringing millions to the game.  There was a perfect mixture of players in their prime and up-and-coming players ready to win.  This is when the IOC should have taken advantage of golf’s new popularity.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Miguel Jimenez, Adam Scott and Stuart Appleby, Ernie Els and Rory Sabbatini.  These are pairings that would have had any age golf fan and new and old golf fans tuning in.

The 2004 Summer Olympics could have been to golf what the 1992 Summer Olympics had been for basketball.  The 2004 Summer Olympics would be able to feature one of the greatest golfers in the history of the game, while also showcasing the game in the form of the personalities that made the game fun.  It could have introduced the Mickelson hat-tip to the world, the fiery Spaniards of different generations, and the easy-going Ernie Els.

Some will take this as a shot against the current crop of golfers.  It simply is not.  Seeing today’s players compete against one another on behalf of their country will be nothing short of incredible.  But had golf acted sooner on this idea, we could have seen greatness much earlier.  And golf would have been only better for it.

Cover Photo via Flickr