Gary Player: Pro Golf Should Be Kicked Out of the Olympics
Gary Player on Spieth, Rio Olympics
Golf Legend Gary Player on the 2016 Open Championship, Jordan Spieth and the Rio Olympics.
Golf will make its return to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years at this yearâs games in Rio de Janeiro, but a number of the worldâs top players, including U.S. superstar Jordan Spieth and the worldâs number one ranked golfer Jason Day, have dropped out over Zika virus fears.
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Golf legend Gary Player sounded off during an interview with the FOX Business Networkâs Stuart Varney and said it could the end of golf in the Olympics.
â[With] my 18 Majors and 165 tournaments â [If I could have] had an Olympic Gold Medal amongst them, it would have been the joy of my life. I would have given anything. I would have taken a rowing boat and rowed over to play in the Olympics. And this excuse about Zika is feeble. You have Zika in America in some states right now. Youâve got more of a chance of being killed by a gun or a motorcar in America than getting Zika,â he said.
Player, who is also the captain of South Africaâs first Olympic golf team, said he wouldnât blame the Olympic Committee for kicking golf out of future games as a result of so many notable players refusing to attend.
âWe all worked hard to get golf in the Olympics. I think professional golf should be kicked out of the Olympicsâ¦They should replace us with amateurs who would hold it at high esteem to represent this country with great joy,â he said.