To date, four prominent players (Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzl, and Vijay Singh) have announced they will not be representing their home countries in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, and now world number one Jason Day is hedging his bets.
Not long ago, Rory McIlroy dithered before saying he would go, but who knows, he could change his mind and back out as could any number of others, the main reason being the uncertainty of the Zika virus. Should that happen, it will not only take some luster off the first gold medal in golf in over a century, it will imperil the future viability of golf as an Olympic sport.
The American squad currently consists of Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, and Dustin Johnson, all of whom say they‘re committed to playing, as do the three leading ladies from the U.S., Lexi Thompson, Stacy Lewis, and Gerina Piller. But five weeks remain before the final qualifiers are announced–and those qualifiers announce whether they’ll be accepting their bids. Stay tuned.