Rory McIlroy Sounds Off on the Olympics

The former world No. 1 did not hold anything back Tuesday in his British Open press conference, speaking on drug testing and the Olympics.

Spieth, whose withdrawal from the Olympic golf tournament was announced yesterday, claimed that the decision had been the “hardest” he had made in his life.

“I think there are times in your career where you know you need to be single-minded, and maybe there are times of your career where it’s time to give back”, he said. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I could win”. So that was the biggest decision for me. I’ll stand by it. “We have a lot of professional people in golf, and you can guarantee the sport will be shown in its best light”.

Spieth stressed that it was not just a worry about the Zika outbreak that made him withdraw.

Justin Rose is hopeful the threat posed by the Zika virus will prove to be a “non-event” as he explained his decision to compete at the Rio Olympics next month. “I haven’t heard that”, he said. “I just couldn’t make a decision”. The other Americans will be Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed, who replaced Johnson. All of those countries still have the maximum two players in Rio.

Spieth nearly notched up three in a row at last year’s Open Championship at St. Andrews, but fell short of a play-off place. I play for other things.

The most recent report from the World Anti-Doping Agency revealed 507 tests were carried out on golfers in 2014, with eight testing positive. The top four ranked men won’t be there.

Apparently, McIlroy wasn’t feeling almost as torn as Spieth about his choice to not be an Olympian. It is assured of being part of the Tokyo Games in 2020, but the International Olympic Committee votes next year on whether golf and other events stay beyond that.

The Northern Irishman has also said he does not feel a responsibility to help grow golf’s worldwide profile, which was one of the prime motivating factors in the sport’s push for Olympic inclusion.

The world number four told BBC Radio Five Live: “I think golf in the Olympics is great for golf, it’s great to grow the game, there is no question about that”.

“But squash certainly asked for a pledge from all the top players to sign it saying we would be there if we got in the Olympics, and golf also came up with a pledge that golfers signed to say if it got in the Olympics they would be there”.

Rory McIlroy, among those who have withdrawn from the games, said Monday that golf needs to get tougher in its drug-testing procedures if it “wants to be seen as a mainstream sport”. “If I focus on myself and make sure that I’m playing the best that I can, I’m pretty confident that if I go out and play my best golf I’m going to win more times than not”.