[Sean_A]

Ben


I guess it says it all when a golfer thinks matchplay dumbs down the sport. We are so far apart even Moses couldn't bridge the gap.


Ciao

[Sean Walsh]

Wayne,

The 3 Day Event in Equestrian uses the same scores for Team and individual events

[Mark Johnson]

If there isn't a stroke play in 4 years I'm boycotting.  I just turned the TV on mute, experience has increased greatly.  If the event is so great, why does one need to change it?  Are we dumbing things down for the ADD viewer or we are all winners mentality?  So far we don't have a tie, so this trumps the Presidents Cup.   

The thing is: The event might be fine on the final day, but the first three days there is not much drama, no excitement at all. They need to find some element to improve the first three days, be it daily cuts or obviously Match Play. The best thing about match play is everything is on the line from the first minute. And in terms of globalization: If you have someone from your country in matchplay, it is more likely his local tv station will show it. At least here in germany there was maybe half an hour of golf on the first three days. There is simply not much to show. But I bet if Kaymer would have been in a match play, the incentive to show more of the olympic event would have been bigger. The way it is they just wait until Sunday. And since Kaymer is not in contention, there is not much golf today as well in Germany. (they only went live when Stenson and Rose were chipping on 18). At least for our country the chance to grow the game seems a little bit wasted (and I know Twitter is not really representative, but the reception for the few minutes they had shown golf was not good at all)

Cut to 16 after 54 holes and then reset all scores,   per the old International tournament.   Would make the final round for medals a must-watch.

[Sean_A]

I prefer something like three man teams playing 3 day 54 holes hole medal for team event medals with low 8 qualifying for matchplay individual medals over 2 days.  First day 18 hole quarters and semis; second day 36 hole final.  Better yet, 54 holes of Stableford qualifyng would even be better. 


Ciao 

[Jon Cavalier]

Ben

As is often the case...you fail to grasp the obvious  Golf in the Os needs to differentiate itself from the boring tour events which are losing more and more of their audience.  Giving me 72 holes of a field of players who could be bothered to turn out isn't exactly a ringing endorsement.  If a guy like me can't be enticd to drop a few hours watching golf how in the hell are you gonna convince a chap from Indonesia to do so?  I will tell you, by developing a comp whereby a guy from Indonesia could compete with a chance to win.  Golf needs something compelling because it is basically a crap sport for 99% of the population to watch on tv...right there with sailing. 

I was playing a match today at a club with two tvs.  Golf was on in one room, the proper Os in the other and football on in a third...very crazy set up for a club.  This is in England with Rose competing for gold...3 people watching.  20 + watching various Os and at least that many watching football (Arsenal V Liverpool).  You need to get out into the real world my man...without the golf blinders on.   Golf is struggling as a tv sport and rightly so.  So why would the Olympic Comm give us something which is in decline?  Better to take a chance and try to generate some excitement for the event. 

Ciao

The randomness of match play is exactly what an event like Olympic golf needs. That's a positive here, not a negative. That kind of small-sample-size randomness is all over the olympics in many events, and it is that potential for a low-probability "upset" outcome that makes the events so exciting to watch for many people.

I have no idea whether golf in the olympics will (or even can) grow the game, but this limited event would be better served by more differentiation.

[Matt Frey, PGA]

Here's an article about the range at the Olympic golf course: http://www.golfrangemagazinedigital.com/i/714897-aug-2016/56

[Tom_Doak]

The randomness of match play is exactly what an event like Olympic golf needs. That's a positive here, not a negative. That kind of small-sample-size randomness is all over the olympics in many events, and it is that potential for a low-probability "upset" outcome that makes the events so exciting to watch for many people.

I have no idea whether golf in the olympics will (or even can) grow the game, but this limited event would be better served by more differentiation.

I agree 100%.


The 72-hole format may "produce the better champion," but it reduces drama.  The Olympics are all about drama.  Usain Bolt is the world's fastest human, but they don't make the 100m finals best total time for four heats, to ensure that a slip-up doesn't cost the best guy the race ... he's got to do it when it counts, or he doesn't win.  That's what makes his accomplishment so impressive.  And that's what match play is all about.


All of the Olympics is produced into highlight packages anyway.  They could do the same for the golf in a match play format, and make it more interesting to watch, and waste less time.  Purists could watch the whole final if they wanted, but everyone else could watch a condensed version where ALL of the matches were important, and not just the final round.  We all know that one of the problems non-golfers have with our game is that it takes so long and seems so boring ... this would be a great way to condense it.  And to make it a "fifth major" completely different than the other four, in the traditional form of the game.


Most of all, just like my nine-hole matches for the Renaissance Cup, a format designed for upsets is the only way the "other" countries are going to have a chance to pull off a great upset.

[JLahrman]

Do it like the old Dunhill Cup format, but with five-man teams instead of three.

16 (or 32) countries are lumped into four (or eight) groups.

Round robin matches for the group stage, so the US will beat Italy 4-1 or Spain will beat Sweden 3-2 or whatever.

Then move on to a knockout stage with the exact same format.

Maybe not as much of a possibility of upsets in this format - though the Dunhill Cup had a random smattering of champion countries - but I would be much more intrigued by team play instead of individual medals.

[Wayne_Kozun]

Wayne,

The 3 Day Event in Equestrian uses the same scores for Team and individual events

Thanks - but to do that they would have to have the same number of players from each country so it would slightly weaken the field as you would have lost the other two Americans or else you would need to have three each from fewer countries.


I know one issue with the IOC is keeping down the number of athletes, which is why some sports, like boxing, have had the number of classes/medals reduced.

[Jason Topp]

They had problems attracting people to the current format, so I suspect that any format that requires more than four days is likely to have a difficult time attracting participants.  That being said - I would love to see a team format included.  Perhaps something like a member-guest format with 18 holes alternate shot, 18 holes four ball and 18 holes both scores count.  There could be some wide swings with both balls counting so the outcome would likely be in doubt until late in the day.

The certain subset of the lowest individuals on the day of individual play could then play 36 on the 4th day for individual medals.     

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