The Olympic Games in Rio are just five months away and with the Olympic Golf Course, designed by Gil Hanse, finally playable, the International Golf Federation put on an exhibition in order to get reviews from some of the top players in the world. The only problem was that none of the top players in the world showed up to the test.
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem offered a chartered jet to members of the Tour to travel to Rio for Tuesday’s test event, but none took him up on it. Similarly, the LPGA Tour, which is off this week after completing a three-week jaunt across Australia and Asia, had no representatives at the test. Instead, nine Brazilians — five men and four women — took part in the test with nothing on the line except for participation medals.
History in Rio today with 1st competition golf ball hit at TestEvent. Course looks magnificent @IBFinchy @GolfAust pic.twitter.com/sIB8a4BwHI
— Kitty Chiller (@kittychiller) March 8, 2016
Alexandre Rocha, the highest-ranked player at the event (588), and Rodrigo Lee both shot 3-under par 68 to share medalist honors among the five men, while Miriam Nagl’s 4-under par 67 was the best round posted and therefore, a course record.
The men’s competition will take place Aug. 11-14 and the women’s will be the following week, Aug. 17-20.
