Keep the pros away! Amateurs should play golf in the Olympics

Canada's Brooke Henderson competes in the Women's individual stroke play at the Olympic Golf course during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on August 17, 2016. PHOTO | GREG BAKER |

What you need to know:

  • The game of golf has evolved in many ways from the last time it was played in the Olympics.
  • The combined earnings of this year’s men medallists, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar, is about Sh850 million this season.
  • In 1900 and 1904, the participants were amateurs and most were from wealthy backgrounds.
  • One of golfers in the 1900, Albert Lambert, playing off 10 handicap, was the founder of a pharmaceutical company that gave us Listerine.

Wealth is the only affliction common to golfers who participated in the Olympics in 1900, 1904 and 2016. The combined earnings of this year’s men medallists, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar, is about Sh850 million this season.

In 1900 and 1904, the participants were amateurs and most were from wealthy backgrounds.

One of golfers in the 1900, Albert Lambert, playing off 10 handicap, was the founder of a pharmaceutical company that gave us Listerine.

In London Olympics of 1908, due to some conflicts in the golfing administration, the entries were too few leading to the withdrawal of the sport in the Olympics. We had to wait until this year for golf to make a return to the Olympics.

I don’t know about you but I was disappointed when I learnt that they only were going to allow 60 professionals. Nothing against the professionals but don’t they have too many events already? I am not referring to the Kenyan pros whose events are too few.

Golf has traditionally had the “go-to events”, which are a must-attend for all top golfers. The Masters Tournament, The US Open, The Open Championship and The PGA Championship also known as the majors are “The Events”.

For the professional golfers, the Olympics may not mean as much. I can bet that if one of these majors were hosted in Rio, the zika virus carrying mosquitoes would not bother the top professional golfers.

The game of golf has evolved in many ways from the last time it was played in the Olympics. The putting greens from then were not the velvety swards that we play on today.

In fact, the definition of the putting green in those days was “tableland on which the hole is placed and which is considered not to exceed twenty yards from the hole”. There was no demarcation between the rest of the course and the putting greens.

In 1890, ten years before the Olympics were played in 1900, the diameter of the hole was officially adopted as 4 ¼ inches.

This arbitrary diameter of 4 ¼ inches is said to have originated from the bright idea of two St. Andrews golfers who, noticing one hole particularly badly worn by the removal of sand for making tees, found a piece of a drain-pipe lying nearby and inserted it in the hole to form a permanent ‘cup’.

The diameter of the pipe happened to be 4 ¼ inches. This is the diameter used to date. How much shame and frustration these two golfers would have saved me if they had found a pipe an inch wider!

Another interesting feature in the game was the fact a golf ball was not lifted until it was holed. A ball lying in the way of the other or lying near it in such a position that a stroke was impeded, was something which had to be suffered or turned to advantage.

For instance, in cases where the ball was near a hole, it could be sent further away from the hole by the execution of a stroke more suitable to pool or snooker than to golf. The stymie rule, as it was known, was removed in 1952 and today you would earn a 2-stroke penalty for striking another ball on the putting green in stroke play. There is however no penalty for the same in match play.

As I write this article, the lady golfers are still playing their round. I am happy to see golf returning to the Olympics and I am hoping that it will be played even beyond Tokyo. I however have unsolicited advice to the organisers of the games.

1. Let this be an amateur sport. You will have all the top amateur golfers participating since they do not have to prepare for other games in which their sponsors have key interests. Make it even more interesting by putting an age limit like they do in football.

2. Increase the entries to 130 and introduce a cut after the first 2 rounds

3. Base the entries on the World Amateur Ranking but do not limit to the top 15 as you did for the professionals. You will have noticed by now that that categorisation will favour the American men and South Korean ladies since they are dominant and more numerous at the top.

4. Apart from the individual stroke play, introduce country teams match play knockouts. Spice it up by having either four-ball or foursome team events.

If the unsolicited recommendations are employed, we are likely to see more lively golfing competitions and we should see more interest. I have nothing against the professionals who took part in this year’s Olympics. I however take issue with the organisers; golf in Rio was just blah!

The author is a KGU Executive