2 more withdrawals from Olympics on eve of British Open

TROON, Scotland- Jordan Spieth said pulling out of the Olympics was the hardest decision he’s ever made, and that it likely will haunt him as he’s watching golfers compete for a gold medal in Rio de Janeiro for the first time in 112 years.

The International Golf Federation, run by former R&A chief Peter Dawson, took over Open week on Monday to announce that Olympic qualifying had ended and that Spieth (along with Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and 16 other men) was not playing.

“I’m a huge believer in Olympic golf and hope to play in four or five in the future if I have the opportunity”.

In a double-pronged critique McIlroy also said golf had to change its drug testing policy in order to be accepted at a multi-sport event like the Olympics.

“The game is in a great state”, said defending British Open champion Zach Johnson, one of only two players outside the Fab Four to win at the past eight major championships.

“But whether there is something out there where it can make you an overall better player, I’m not sure”. “But I’m very happy with the decision that I’ve made and I have no regrets about it”.

With all firms paying at least six places, and with Els and Darren Clarke winning Opens in their 40s in recent years, I’ll put up three old-timers at very decent odds who could go well.

The next day, Spieth stood by his decision (“health concerns”) and said his goal would be to get to the Tokyo Games in 2020, assuming the men are still in the games. But I didn’t get into golf to grow it – I got into it to win’.

“I’ve gone to plenty of golf courses before that I haven’t played and been able to do well on them”, he pointed out. Having dinner with a group of American players during last year’s Open, the Anchorman star reportedly said he had only been to two golf majors – the 2007 Masters and St. Andrews 2015.

“HGH [human growth hormone] you can’t really pick it up in a urine test. I could use HGH and get away with it. So I think blood testing is something that needs to happen in golf just to make sure it is a clean sport”.

“Whether it’s the best idea to have the top professionals there, whether it should be amateurs where it’s the pinnacle of the amateur game, like boxing is, then you move onto the professional level, I don’t know”.

However, Comcast has a solid plan in place to produce a healthy profit from the Rio Olympics-whether the games themselves are a success or failure.

“This year I just had to try and weigh a risk that doesn’t present itself every year”, he said.

“Most of the guys here that are either up around the top of the World Golf Rankings or at the top of the sport at the minute probably didn’t play the Open at Troon when it was last here”.

That would have required a warm-weather site – Baltusrol, this year’s host in New Jersey, clearly wouldn’t have worked – but golf had seven years to get its house in order before Rio.