Individual, Men

The men’s Olympic golf tournament saw nothing but negative publicity in the months before Rio, as many top players withdrew, citing concerning over the Zika virus, which was a complete non-entity in Rio during the Olympics. Top Australian player Adam Scott withdrew early, and was almost virulent in his criticism of Olympic golf even being on the program. When he was joined in withdrawal by top ranked players Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, and Dustin Johnson, the press wondered if golf would even survive as an Olympic sport after Rio.

Many top players did compete, however, including Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, and the American foursome of Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Matt Kuchar, and Patrick Reed. After two rounds, relatively obscure Australian Marcus Fraser led over Belgian Thomas Pieters and the critics were up again, saying that the tournament was hurt by the absence of so many top players. However, Rose was in third and Stenson was fourth, and when Fraser and Pieters stumbled in round three, Rose took the lead with Stenson second. Stenson shot 68 in the final round, but could not catch Rose, who fired 67 to win by two shots. Kuchar was another shot back in bronze medal position. With an exciting final two rounds, enthusiastic galleries, and three medalists who were acknowledged to be among the top players in the world, many of the complaints about Olympic golf seemed ill-founded.