Suzanne Yost McCourt’s artwork ‘Journey to Olympic Golf.’
The Spirit of Olympic Golf… something nobody has felt or experienced in the last 112 years… In hopes of defining the “Spirit of Olympic Golf,” I took a 100-day, 14-country, 18,471-mile “Journey to Olympic Golf” to investigate, chronicle and share a combination of the Olympic Spirit and the History and Tradition of Golf. Here is my best guess on what constitutes the soon to be born again “Spirit of Olympic Golf!”
CLICK here for the article: The Spirit of Olympic Golf, Soon to be Born Again…
As we get closer to that first Olympic Golf tee shot on Thursday, August 11th here are some more clues from the world’s best golfers on what it means to be a Olympian Golfer and what that “Spirit of Olympic Golf” truly is… from Bubba Watson—dedication, preparation & passion…
From Media Day for the TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP (June 20, 2016) courtesy of ASAP Sports:
Bubba Watson watches his putt on the eighth green during the second round of the 2013 Travelers Championship. Photo Credit: AP Photo/Fred Beckham
NATHAN GRUBE (Tournament Director for the Travelers Championship): And then also Bubba, our two-time champion, is here back with us. It is never a given that your champion will come back for media day or defend your tournament. I’m going to say that.
And from the beginning — I’m going to tell you a quick story. From the beginning, Bubba has said, absolutely I’m coming back. And when all of a sudden there was rumblings going, I heard many commentators saying, oh, that’s unfortunately for Travelers because Bubba is going to be in the Olympics, there’s no way he’s going to play the week before, and you talk to Bubba and he goes, “I’m coming.” Later you talk to him, see him down the road in the fall at the other events when Andy (Besette, Executive VP & Chief Administrative Officer of The Travelers Companies, Inc.) and I are out there recruiting, Bubba, how’s your schedule look, and he goes, “Oh, I’m coming,” and never wavered once, from the beginning, that he was going to defend and he was going to be in the Olympics as an Olympian. We are very fortunate to have him do both of those.
Olympic Golf returns after 112 years… what defines the Spirit of Olympic Golf?
MARK ROLFING (NBC Golf Analyst): It’s going to be an incredibly busy seven weeks between now and when you’re going to try and put your name on that trophy for a third time (2016 TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP ends Sunday, August 7th; Olympic Men’s Golf Competition on the Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is scheduled for Thursday, August 11th through Sunday, August 14th). How are you going to manage and how have you to this point managed what’s going to be an incredibly busy, competitive time for you?
BUBBA WATSON (Defending 2015 & 2010 TRAVELERS Champion): We took that into consideration about the Olympics just throws the whole schedule off. One week throws the whole schedule off, how they had to do things. And I was fourth in the world for the last two years, so I knew I had a good shot at making the Olympic team, so we had to prepare for that. So leading up to the Masters, just after the Masters, we took a lot of time off. I wasn’t supposed to play Memorial, but I added it at the last minute, so that was going to be another time off.
But yeah, I’ve been preparing on the time, how do I save the energy, get ready for this long stretch. So what I saw it as is this is a new season for me. I had the first part of the season, had a break, and now this is a new season.
The Olympic Rings are at home at Glen Echo CC and so was I as I kicked off the 2013 “Journey to Olympic Golf!”
Trying to prepare for this, and the no-brainer — there’s so many questions being asked, but the no-brainer was you’re defending champion; your dad got to see you win here; what it meant to my family; how good Travelers has been to us; how good Travelers has been to the TOUR; and then from the golf side of it, preparation for the Olympics. I don’t know what the preparation is going to be down there because it’s a new venue that just was built, so for practice and to knock rust off or whatever it is, I want to come here and try to win and defend my title and then fly to the Olympics.
So it was a no-brainer never to miss this. This was never coming off the schedule. We’ve always planned on being here. No matter what happened, I was going to be here. So I’m missing (the Olympic) opening ceremonies, and then I just found out, because I didn’t know the date, but I’m missing (the Olympic) closing ceremonies because it’s the week after our event, so I’m just going to fly in for the golf tournament and then fly out if I make it to the Olympics.
