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The combination of a busy playing schedule, young family and an unappealing tournament format prompted Adam Scott’s decision to make himself unavailable for selection to the Olympic Games in Tokyo in July.
A statement issued late last month by Scott’s US-based manager, Johan Elliott of Sportyard International, said the Olympics did not fit into the Australian’s 2021 schedule, late July usually being reserved for time with his family.
“With the world being the way it is, Adam is gone four to five weeks at a time this year during his playing blocs,” Elliott told GolfChannel.com. “With three young children at home, this time in the schedule will be devoted to family.
“It is pretty much the only time up until October when he has a chance to see them for a stretch of time and not only a few days, a week.”
The statement is not entirely convincing. With the Games being held every four years, surely Scott could have compiled a schedule that would allow him to compete at Baron de Coubertin’s quadrennial extravaganza yet spend time with his family during the other 51 weeks of the year.
Is there another reason?
The answer may lie in a response he gave in Melbourne during the 2015 Australian Masters. Explaining why he was unlikely to play at the following year’s Rio Olympics, Scott cited his schedule and the Zika virus then said he didn’t care for the format.
Scott felt International Olympic Committee officials missed the chance to do something special, saying they could have been a “little more creative” rather than stage a 72-hole, stroke-play tournament.
“I’m not really sure how just having another golf tournament is going to enhance the game or grow the game more than any other tournament anywhere just because it’s the Olympics,” Scott said. “Certainly, with the field criteria, it doesn’t necessarily get the strongest field in the game, either.
“Some kind of team event, even a mixed-team event with the guys and the girls ... I think that could have generated some real electricity. That’s nothing to take away from the Olympics, but I’m just not sure that they have got it quite dialed in with the format and might have missed an opportunity there to do something pretty special for golf.”
IOC officials said before the Rio Olympics it was possible a team event could be added to the golf programme for the Tokyo games, but nothing materialised. This means the Olympics, the apex of national team sport competition, again will feature as its golf competition two individual, stroke-play events – men’s and women’s.
Scott joins world No. 1 Dustin Johnson and, it would appear, Webb Simpson on the men’s no-show list. His feelings echo those of other Australian pros, such as Geoff Ogilvy, who feel there are far too many 72-hole, stroke-play tournaments already on the PGA Tour schedule.
The Olympic Games, they feel, provides a perfect opportunity to devise a bright new team format that allow for men to play alongside women as a national team.
“Some kind of team event, even a mixed-team event with the guys and the girls ... I think that could have generated some real electricity. ... (The Olympics) might have missed an opportunity there to do something pretty special for golf.”
Adam Scott
The situation is like the 2013 World Cup of Golf at Royal Melbourne, when the sport’s powers-that-be decreed the tournament no longer would be a teams-based event, as it had been since 1953, but a four-round, individual stroke-play tournament contested by two players from each country.
This produced the ridiculous situation where, from the $8 million total purse, $7 million went to the individual winner and $1 million to the victorious team.
Team members – in Australia’s case, Scott and Jason Day – did not play alongside each other; they were drawn in different groups at different times. There was no sense of “team” at all.
To cap the madness, seven players, including Fiji’s Vijay Singh, were not representing their countries; they were there as individuals chasing the booty.
Only the Australian team’s victory in front of its home crowd – and Day’s effort in carrying off the individual trophy – saved the event from becoming a complete shambles.
Perhaps that experience soured Scott’s view?
Scott’s absence allows Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith – who combined to win the recent Zurich Classic tournament in New Orleans – to represent Australia in Tokyo, not a bad consolation prize for the Australian Olympic team.
GGP asked Scott’s father, Phil, who looks after his affairs in Australia, if there are any other reasons behind Adam’s withdrawal besides his hectic schedule.
“No,” Scott Snr confirmed. “And Adam will be cheering on Leish and Cam wholeheartedly in Japan.”
The men’s Olympics golf tournament is scheduled for 29 July to 1 August at Kasumigaseki Country Club outside Tokyo, two weeks after the Open Championship and a week before the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis. The women’s event is set for 4-7 August at the same venue.
The top 15 players in the Olympic Golf Rankings (which essentially mirror the Official World Golf Ranking for men and the Rolex Rankings for women) will be eligible for the Games up to a maximum of four golfers per country.
After the top 15, the field will be filled until getting to 60 golfers by going down the Olympic Golf Ranking, with the top two-ranked players qualifying from any country that does not have two or more players from the top 15.
Japan, as host country, is guaranteed at least two players, one of whom obviously will be recently crowned Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama. Unlike Scott, he seems to be champing at the bit to get started, as he said when he received the Prime Minister’s Award from Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
“This just makes me want to work even harder and do even better,” he said. “I will work hard to win a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics.”
Top: Adam Scott hits a tee shot during the first round of the 2021 Masters.
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