One Year To Rio:Olympics Will Mark a New Chapter For Golf

Golfers already have their eye on the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil.Three of them,Henrik Stenson of Sweden,American Matt Kuchar and South Korean Ben An,plus PGA executive vice president Ty Votaw,gathered for a press conference at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron,Ohio to mark the year away milestone.The Games open on 5 August 2016 and run through 21 August;while the golf competition begins on 17 August.
The new Olympic golf course in Rio had a good growing season,Mr.Votaw pointed out,and seems to be on track for a successful opening next year.Designed by architect Gil Hanse of Hanse Golf Course Design,Inc. in Malvern,Pennsylvania,the course was constructed with a high degree of care for the environmentally sensitive site,including a selective logging technique the firm hadn't used before.It will host a test event by prominent male and female golfers in March 2016.The golf world will have to deal with an altered calendar to accommodate the Olympics,as well as the prospect of top golfers skipping certain annual tournaments in order to prepare or rest for the Olympics.*
I'm excited about the Olympics,said Matt Kuchar.I know most of the other players are excited.*
To compete there and hopefully win a medal for Sweden would be very special,Henrik Stenson added.It's going to be a strong achievement and something you would be remembered for the rest of your life.It's been good for golf.We've seen a lot of support in the developing countries.Golf being in the Olympics is very important in some of these countries.*
Ben An,23,whose Korean name is Byeong-Hun An,has been having a breakout year on the European Tour,winning the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth,England,and placing in the top ten in several other tournaments.
If it weren't for the Olympics,I wouldn't even be here,An joked,referring to the fact that his parents,both Olympic medal-winners in table tennis,his father for South Korea and his mother for China,got acquainted at the Olympics.*
The three players posed with the silver trophy that was won in 1904 by the last Olympic golf champion,Canadian George Seymour Lyon (1858-1938),a very successful amateur of his day.The sport was then excluded from the Olympics for well over a century.We applied to return eight years ago,Mr.Votaw recalled.