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DJ Says No to 2021 Olympics

Good, if he doesn't care then he shouldn't play and that will free up a spot for someone who actually wants to be there.
 
Snickerdog said:
Olympics run July 23rd to Aug 8th.
The open championship is July 15th-18th doubt he would want to do that much international travel, doesn't give him much prep time
WGC St Jude is Aug 8th, doubt he would want to miss that
and all of this leads up to the start of the FedEx playoffs on the 15th of Aug.
Much more at stake for him there in those events then an Olympic medal. He doesn't seem the sort to care about the Olympics IMO.
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He doesn't have to be there for the start and end of the Olympics, just the golf. Here's the schedule from the PGA Tour's site. There are 11 days from the end of The Open to the start of Olympic golf. That is more than enough time to comfortably travel, prepare and play. I do agree that it would likely mean not playing in the St. Jude. And to that I say BFD.

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Parrot said:
Whatever pull Olympic golf might have had for a player was irreparably damaged by the re-scheduling of the games. But, I don't think it means a player not choosing to play is any more an indictment of his patriotism than a regular person shirking jury duty (a lot more important than Olympic golf so probably not a fair comparison) for whatever reason they can make up and get by with.
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I didn't say otherwise. I said while it might not be the pinnacle for the PGA Tour player, it might be for the patriot. Thats not an indictment on someone being patriotic or less. Its saying that they have different priorities based on career path. Just as the Zika virus was before it, the general idea of playing for one's country is not a top priority for many players on tour. Their choice.
 
If this continues to be the norm, big-name golfers deciding not to play, they have NO ONE but themselves to blame when Golf is no longer part of the Olympics.

I am not singling DJ out on this, there are plenty of others, including Spieth, who did it last time.

To me, this is the ULTIMATE way to showcase pride for your country, and to bow out is frankly ridiculous to me.
 
Very disappointing and hard for me to understand. I won't hold it against DJ as no one has an obligation but I just don't get how you could pass up the opportunity to represent your country in the Olympics. As a competitor you would think guys would be fighting for the chance to compete for Gold, not just for their country but for a chance to win an event that not even Jack and Tiger have won.
 
NVGOLFER80 said:
not really understandable.. there is no money so he is not going..
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Is that not understandable? As others have mentioned, he will likely not be the only one.
 
I tend to agree that I don't see the need for golf as an olympic sport, especially how its currently set up. If you combined men & women on a team or something it would be more interesting. Having said that, it currently is one, and if I had the chance to represent my country, I'd like to think I would go once every 4 years.
 
it's a bummer to see the #1 player in the world say that, but I'm sure he won't be alone.
 
knew this would be coming. A lot of talk about this this weekend at The Players.
 
Agree. And I don't like it. But looking at his schedule it appears he really doesn't like to play very often and takes big breaks between events.
 
I thought Olympic golf was a real hit in ‘16 even without a bunch of top players. I’m surprised to see so many have a negative impression of it.
 
I'm not going to sit here and tell DJ what should be his priorities - But I hate the time 'reason'

I personally think it would be a thrill to represent my Country, but I'm at home in a chair thinking about it - not actually enjoying the potential. With that in mind, I would hope anyone who is participating in the Olympics doesn't just play and run. The Olympics is a Worldwide celebration of skill, and to not participate in that in completion would be an equal letdown I think.
 
tequila4kapp said:
He doesn't have to be there for the start and end of the Olympics, just the golf. Here's the schedule from the PGA Tour's site. There are 11 days from the end of The Open to the start of Olympic golf. That is more than enough time to comfortably travel, prepare and play. I do agree that it would likely mean not playing in the St. Jude. And to that I say BFD.

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Still a lot of travel in a shortish period of time. Granted he travels much better than I do but that trip to Japan is not a lot of fun.
If you are going to the Olympics, why would you only want to go for just your sporting event? The Olympics is also about the whole experience, walking in the opening ceremony is a big part of that.
Again, DJ just doesn't seem the type of person to be into that sort of thing.
 
captaincaution said:
30K for teeing off in the WGC FedEx St. Jude's is nothing to sneeze at.
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Not to get in anyone's pocket but 30k pre-tax is not going to change his lifestyle.

He has also been getting flack about not traveling to Japan but willing to tee it up in Saudi Arabia, which doles out appearance money.

I'm a big fan of the Olympics and Olympic golf is just another pro event. No chance for an amateur to make the team. At least with the Dream team there was a collegiate on it. But amateurs vs. professionals is a different discussion.
 
JB said:
I didn't say otherwise. I said while it might not be the pinnacle for the PGA Tour player, it might be for the patriot. Thats not an indictment on someone being patriotic or less. Its saying that they have different priorities based on career path. Just as the Zika virus was before it, the general idea of playing for one's country is not a top priority for many players on tour. Their choice.
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My bad.
 
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Its a shame cuz his game would be a great addition to the team, and maybe a little selfish to skip it because of his preference to make big bucks on tour, but we have a good number of contenders to make a full team
 
Money talks on the PGA Tour.

I wouldn't mind if they made Olympic golf a fully amateur event. Have the top 4 players from the most recent US Am Championship qualify for a spot on the team. Other countries can host their own qualifying events or just have regional events for everyone like they do in Boxing to fill out the field.
 
Chef23 said:
I don't think that is really fair to Rickie. I don't begrudge him commercial earnings and I do believe he is one of the few golfers that has a passion for the Olympics. I know he is struggling right now so it is easy to kick him but I think this was a bit of a cheap shot.
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I don’t think it’s a cheap shot lol. It’s an off the cuff joke about Rickie doing it because he IS so passionate about the olympics and would almost 100% be game for it.

As for me joking about commercials and his performance the best way to stop that narrative is to produce some results. I saw Rickie in more commercials this weekend than I did on the course. Two new commercials I haven’t seen, so they are new. He says he is trying to fix things and go through a swing change. I just don’t agree that’s actually the case. Not saying he flat out doesn’t care, but it seems like to me as long as he has a job on tour the results don’t mean as much to him.
Professional sports are here for us to dissect, speculate, comment on. Just because I made a joke that he’s been playing awful doesn’t need mean that I’m attacking his character.
 
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Afizzle2100 said:
I don’t think it’s a cheap shot lol. It’s an off the cuff joke about Rickie doing it because he IS so passionate about the olympics and would almost 100% be game for it.

As for me joking about commercials and his performance the best way to stop that narrative is to produce some results. I saw Rickie in more commercials this weekend than I did on the course. Two new commercials I haven’t seen, so they are new. He says he is trying to fix things and go through a swing change. I just don’t agree that’s actually the case. Not saying he flat out doesn’t need care, but it seems like to me as long as he has a job on tour the results don’t be mean as much to him.
Professional sports are here for us to dissect, speculate, comment on. Just because I made a joke that he’s been playing awful doesn’t need mean that I’m attacking his character.
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Genuine question. When Tiger was shooting 80 and ranked about 200th, why did nobody ever say a word about him being in two dozen commercials a day during tournaments? To me its because Rickie is an easy target. :)
 
DataDude said:
Do you think patriotism is a drive for Millenials? I don't think many of them care that much. Most research shows less than 40% of Millenials are patriotic at all. Don't want to get into the why's but I wouldn't count on patriotism driving any single golfer to participate in the Olympics. It might drive some, but probably not a majority.
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I agree. I think patriotism means something very different to this generation than it did to those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s. Also the Olympics changed forever once professionals started competing in them.
 
Carolina Dundee said:
Good, if he doesn't care then he shouldn't play and that will free up a spot for someone who actually wants to be there.
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This is the attitude I have. I think someone who wants to be there and is more patriotic will be more competitive. It means more to them.
 
JB said:
Genuine question. When Tiger was shooting 80 and ranked about 200th, why did nobody ever say a word about him being in two dozen commercials a day during tournaments? To me its because Rickie is an easy target. :)
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I’ve been a very firm advocate that tiger blames all poor play on back issues when for a portion of time it was more due to more of a care for branding and not enough time actually playing golf. Now part of the reason he wasnt practicing was to avoid injuring his back before tournaments, but just because that wasn’t the public narrative doesn’t mean that some fans like me weren’t thinking it. Colt knost interviewed Rickie on his podcast and they were talking to his caddy and he said Rickie will stay for hours after tournaments to sign autographs and admitted that Rickie takes on more media responsibility than others. If that is so obvious than why haven’t they tried dialing back to see if that helps the game? I’ve listened to pods where Matt Wolff is talking about for big tournaments paying rickie to fly on his private jet. Rickie openly says he enjoys life other than golf so I don’t know why people seem to defend him like its a bad thing. All the power to him if he’s content with his life and career.
 
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