Olympic Golf Selection Process Excludes Many Countries

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: July 23, 2014

commentComment        

Finally, the International Golf Federation let the real cat out of the bag on who will be able to compete in the 2016 Olympics. It was done during British Open week, figuring it would get buried in other headlines.

Now comes the revelation that, no matter how far up a player is in the rankings, only the top four from any country can compete, if there are more than four in the top 15. If Australia had four in the top 15, all four could go. Today, it has two. The U.S. has eight in the top 15 this week, but only four would go if the selections were done now.

Also, no matter who you are, you no longer have two people from your country based on your high world ranking. It's starting at the top with No. 1 and taking only 60 players, with duplicate countries thrown out after two players from a country are selected. There's no "team."

A lot of things are wrong with what has been this Rubik's Cube of different formulas. However, what's completely ridiculous about it is that the method for choosing players is based on a flawed ranking system. Even more egregious, participants are not selected by individual countries.

Here's how this will work: A flawed, world-ranking system is going to tell the U.S. who to send to the Olympics.

Would U.S. Track and Field pick the 4x100-meter relay participants for the Olympic team based on an average speed of what someone ran for the last two years? Not on this planet. Well, guess what? That's exactly what's going to happen in golf.

Would Michael Phelps get a pass to compete in 2016 because of his Olympic record? No. He has to qualify. Golfers? Not so much.

If the flawed rankings and the non-country-determined teams were not enough, this method restricts, rather than promotes, the game by automatically eliminating countries who are not already golf powers. In other words, it's super exclusionary. Where's the chance for a surprise team or golfer from Kenya or D...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Golf

Latest News


Comments

Comments are closed.

Sponsors

Bruins Tickets The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

Red Wings Tickets The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League.

Penguins Tickets The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

New York Rangers Tickets play their home games at Madison Square Garden, they are one of the oldest teams in the NHL, having joined in 1926 as an expansion franchise, and are part of the group of teams referred to as the Original Six.

San Jose Sharks Tickets The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California, United States.

Toronto Maple Leafs Tickets The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

New Jersey Devils Tickets The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

Washington Capitals Tickets The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C.

Buffalo Sabres Tickets The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League. Get the Sabres and all of your NHL Tickets here.

NASCAR season is on of the most attended sports in the world. NASCAR Tickets to the best tracks is a must every year. Some of these tracks are: Talladega Tickets, Lowes Motor Speedway Tickets, Pocono Raceway Tickets, located in Ridgeway Virginia you have Martinsville Speedway Tickets and southern US you have two of the most popular Atlanta Motor Speedway Tickets and Texas Motor Speedway Tickets. Don't miss all the racing events this year!

Boston Red Sox Tickets The Boston Red Sox are a member of the Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Since 1912, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park. This is one of the hottest MLB Tickets sales of any team in the major league.

New York Yankees Tickets The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of the Bronx, in New York City, New York and are a member of Major League Baseball's American League East Division. Get tickets to one of the hottest games of the season Yankees Red Sox Tickets.

Chicago Cubs Tickets The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League.

Phillies Tickets The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883.

Orioles Tickets The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Do you love wrestling? Get your WWE Tickets and WWE Survivor Series Tickets today!