With one week to go before the final field is set, the list of Olympic withdrawals continues, with the latest, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, making it an even dozen of the game’s top players saying no to Rio.
Curiously, Riophobia seems to strike the citizens of certain nations more virulently than others, notably members of the British Commonwealth, with Australia and South Africa each showing three sufferers, along with the early Fijian victim, Vijay Singh. The Irish (McIlroy, McDowell, Lowery) also seem strangely vulnerable to the condition. But there’s no hint of Brexit as Englishmen Danny Willett and Justin Rose stand with Europeans Garcia, Stenson, Molinari, Kaymer, Dubuisson, et al, ready to board the plane to Brazil, along with Americans Johnson, Spieth, Watson, and Fowler. The current field of 60 qualifiers, which shouldn’t change much this week, with the Greenbrier Classic cancelled because of floods, can be found here.