Golf: The Majors and Minors 2021

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, L'oiseau français said:

Your guy parted ways with his caddy today at the Rocket Mortgage Classic outside of Detroit.  That’s a helluva a thing to do mid-season and right before the British Open. Commentators were saying they briefly broke up once before, but who knows, maybe he was blaming him for what happened at the US Open?

Who knows. The guy marches to his own drum and that's what makes him fun to root for. 

[Fragile Bird]

I’ve been watching Live from the Open off and on the last couple of days and am looking forward to the opening round in the wee hours of the morning. There’s been some controversy over the strict rules being placed on even fully vaccinated golfers, which really came to light after Rickie Fowler’s comments on the subject. He pointed out they’re restricted to wherever they’re staying, while 32,000 fans are going to be allowed to watch each day. What’s the daily case count now?

I keep seeing these Open facts being presented on the show, and it is stunning to imagine Gary Player played in 46 Open Championships. That’s dedication. And at this time of year I always have to revisit stories about Bobby Jones.

Amusingly, there are vignettes being played about the course and the locale on the Golf Channel that are being narrated by Stephen Dillane, the actor who played Stannis Baratheon. I assumed they’ll show up during the NBC coverage as well.

Edited July 14, 2021 by L'oiseau français
Sp

[lmanion]

The UK as far as I know are almost up to 90% vaccinated but they have very strict rules on people entering their country with regards to covid. Unfortunately not everywhere is as free to do as they please as the USA

[Fragile Bird]

1 hour ago, lmanion said:

The UK as far as I know are almost up to 90% vaccinated but they have very strict rules on people entering their country with regards to covid. Unfortunately not everywhere is as free to do as they please as the USA

Restricting people who are fully vaccinated and have been tested before entry into the country seems a bit extreme.

And no, 90% of the country is not vaccinated. 68.8% of the population has at least one dose and 52.2% are fully vaccinated. If roughly 10% of the population is under age 12, that means about 62% of those over 12 are fully vaccinated. I have not heard that attendees are being asked for proof of vaccination, but even if they are, 32,000 people are being allowed in every day, allowing a couple of hundred golfers and their entourages the freedom to leave their hotels doesn’t exactly sound high risk. Only fully vaccinated ones, of course.

[lmanion]

What is the opinions on Olympic golf around here? The commentators are doing their best to make it sound like a massive deal as big as the majors. Personally I've been a bit meh about it but watching it today has been pretty good. The low numbers in the field put it below the players championship to me but the fact it happens once every '4' years kind of brings it up to that level. It doesn't get near a major for me but it is fun watching 7 guys playoff for a bronze medal.

[BigFatCoward]

31 minutes ago, lmanion said:

What is the opinions on Olympic golf around here? The commentators are doing their best to make it sound like a massive deal as big as the majors. Personally I've been a bit meh about it but watching it today has been pretty good. The low numbers in the field put it below the players championship to me but the fact it happens once every '4' years kind of brings it up to that level. It doesn't get near a major for me but it is fun watching 7 guys playoff for a bronze medal.

IMO any sport where Olympics isn't the thing competitors most want to win shouldn't be included. Football, basketball, tennis and golf can fuck right off. 

[lmanion]

Probably add road cycling to that list

5 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

IMO any sport where Olympics isn't the thing competitors most want to win shouldn't be included. Football, basketball, tennis and golf can fuck right off. 

 

[BigFatCoward]

9 minutes ago, lmanion said:

Probably add road cycling to that list

 

True, but at least road cyclists aren't multi millionaires like those other sports. 

I don't know enough about skateboarding but I'd assume X games gold is at least as important as Olympic gold? 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

25 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

IMO any sport where Olympics isn't the thing competitors most want to win shouldn't be included. Football, basketball, tennis and golf can fuck right off. 

1. Golf isn't a sport, and thus shouldn't be at the Olympics anyway. But since they apparently considered adding e-sports in the near future, the term sport has become rather meaningless for the IOC anyway.

2. For your list of events. Boxing. You totally forgot Boxing. As for football. You should be a bit more specific. That's only true for the Men's game. The Women teams rate the Olympics quite highly if I am not mistaken.

[BigFatCoward]

16 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

1. Golf isn't a sport, and thus shouldn't be at the Olympics anyway. But since they apparently considered adding e-sports in the near future, the term sport has become rather meaningless for the IOC anyway.

2. For your list of events. Boxing. You totally forgot Boxing. As for football. You should be a bit more specific. That's only true for the Men's game. The Women teams rate the Olympics quite highly if I am not mistaken.

E sports is a joke full stop, never mind in the Olympics.

For me, boxing gets a pass because it's amatuers.

Womens football I'm fine with, but world Cup probably still >>>>>>>>>> Olympics. 

Edited August 1, 2021 by BigFatCoward

[lmanion]

Agree with boxing because it's amateurs, I actually think that's the way it should have gone for golf in the Olympics as well. Football in the men's at least is u23 with I think 3 over that age allowed so like semi pro and it's been a thing for a long time so it's a historical sport. 

eSports being in the Olympics is a big joke and that's coming from someone who spends significant time every week racing online.

Anyway I think the gold medalists will probably love golf being an Olympic sport and most of the time the other medalists will have an Olympic medal they store in a draw somewhere and become a trivia question in years to come.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

True, but at least road cyclists aren't multi millionaires like those other sports. 

I don't know enough about skateboarding but I'd assume X games gold is at least as important as Olympic gold? 

So Biles shouldn't compete either? 

A gold medal is still a gold medal, and winning one is special regardless of the sport. Except for the horse dancing shit. Get that out of here.

3 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

1. Golf isn't a sport, and thus shouldn't be at the Olympics anyway. But since they apparently considered adding e-sports in the near future, the term sport has become rather meaningless for the IOC anyway.

Golf is absolutely a sport. Certainly more so than the shooting events.

 

[BigFatCoward]

2 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

So Biles shouldn't compete either? 

A gold medal is still a gold medal, and winning one is special regardless of the sport. Except for the horse dancing shit. Get that out of here.

 

Gymnastics definitely should be at the Olympics because it's the pinnacle of their careers. See earlier comments. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

10 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

Gymnastics definitely should be at the Olympics because it's the pinnacle of their careers. See earlier comments. 

Was just pointing out the hypocrisy of bringing money into it. That really shouldn't matter at all. 

[BigFatCoward]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

Was just pointing out the hypocrisy of bringing money into it. That really shouldn't matter at all. 

It did for 100 years. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

7 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

It did for 100 years. 

Amateurism while the sponsors make hundreds of millions of dollars, sometimes billions, while the athletes get nothing. The whole concept is nonsense. That's why here stateside shamateurism via the NCAA is being broken and scattered to the wind. It's total bullshit.

[BigFatCoward]

15 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Amateurism while the sponsors make hundreds of millions of dollars, sometimes billions, while the athletes get nothing. The whole concept is nonsense. That's why here stateside shamateurism via the NCAA is being broken and scattered to the wind. It's total bullshit.

Never said I agree with it. I have no idea why basketball players don't all sack off college and play in Europe for a year instead. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

3 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Golf is absolutely a sport. Certainly more so than the shooting events.

Those shouldn't be there either. Certainly less of a sporting activity than say, laser tag or paintball. But like I said, once you start to consider e-sports as a potential sport, then you might as well go with golf.

 

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Womens football I'm fine with, but world Cup probably still >>>>>>>>>> Olympics. 

For the Womens, I am not sure that is actually true. AFAIK they've always wanted to compete there. It used to be at least as big a stage as the womens' World Cup (outside the US). Last couple of years, the governing football bodies started to put more money and attention to it. Guess we could ask Rapinoe what she values more her Olympic Gold, or her World Cup win. So if anybody happens to know her, I am genuinely curious.

On the mens' side. No argument. The Olympics are not really a priority by any stretch for them. Just ask Stefan Kuntz how much fun he had to recruit players for the Olympic squad this year (there was a reason why the squad consisted of less than 20 players).

As for the Tennis players also like to have one of those gold medals afaik. That's why I think Djokovic rage quit the Olympics after he lost to Zverev.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Those shouldn't be there either. Certainly less of a sporting activity than say, laser tag or paintball. But like I said, once you start to consider e-sports as a potential sport, then you might as well go with golf.

A lot of them are extremely hard, tbf. It's not like laser tag or paintball at all. They just look like that on TV because it doesn't give you much perspective. For instances, the archery competitions look really easy until you realize they're hitting a tiny dot 70 yards away.

E-sports has no place at the Olympics though. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

I don'T have an issue with those archery events. It's not merely the concentration aspect, the bows are not easy, and you also need quite a bit of strength and they are quite difficult to draw. It's those pistol/gun shooting events and effing golf, where I draw an (admittedly rather arbitrary) line.