Martin Devlin: Golf is only in the Olympics because of money

Dustin Johnson during the third round of the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois, last year. Photo / File

COMMENT:

Dustin Johnson, one of the best golfers in the world, has decided he's not going to the Olympics because he wants to concentrate on the Fed-Ex Cup playoffs.

That there in a sentence is why sports like golf and tennis should never have become part of the world's greatest sporting spectacle.

I raise this every four years to once again fall on entirely deaf ears, but if you're new to the argument then do allow me to please explain.

What Johnson is saying, in as many words, is that the PGA Tour's mega-money-making finale is more important to him than the prospect of playing for an Olympic medal.

And who can blame him? He's a professional sportsman dedicated to his profession and this quadrennial novelty event is nothing more than an unwanted distraction.

Which is exactly my point. Any sport that doesn't consider an Olympic gold as its ultimate prize shouldn't be a part of the Games. The recent additions of golf and tennis are the biggest farce of all.

Golf was added to the permanent roster again in 2016, after an absence of 112 years, with tennis added in 1988 after not having been a part since 1924. Both sports are only in the Olympics because of money, i.e. the ability of the IOC to leverage off their global corporate partners and generate cash. Which, again, is fine if you believe that the purpose of the OG is to make money.

Silly old me always though it was about faster, higher, stronger. The absolute pinnacle of whatever event being competed in.

Until along came golf and tennis. Neither of these two sports will ever have an Olympic medal as its most desirable prize. The history and associated glory of the Grand Slams and Major Championships will always mean the Olympics are second best, at best.

At least the sport of football acknowledges this by making it's Olympic entry a pseudo-U23 event knowing that a gold medal will never surpass winning the actual Fifa World Cup.

Baseball is another sport for me that has no place at the Games - not until an Olympic win would be worth more to the players than a World Series. And since that's never going to happen, then they should also never have been invited.

The Olympics need less sports, not more, and I'd start the cull immediately. Any sport which has at its zenith a prize bigger than the Olympics should not be a part of it - there is no easier way to define it.