Adam Scott becomes first top player to bail on new Olympics golf competition

Adam Scott was not the first and he may not be the last PGA Tour player to decide that jamming an Olympics appearance into a seriously frenzied 2016 golf schedule makes no sense.

Scott has said for months that playing for Australia in the Rio summer games was not high on his list of priorities. He joined Vijay Singh of Fiji on the sidelines when he announced on Tuesday that capturing another major title was more important than going for a gold medal.

“I have informed the Australian team captain and relevant authorities, who are understanding of my position,” the 2013 Masters champion said in a statement. “I wish the Australian Olympic team the very best of luck in Rio.”

A week ago, Singh cited the Zika virus as one reason for taking himself out of contention for a spot on his country’s Olympics roster. A more likely reason than fear of the mosquito-borne illness that causes birth defects is a desire by the former world No. 1 who has dropped to 219th to get his game back in shape on the PGA Tour.

“The timing of it, you know I have to focus over here,” Singh, 53, told Golf Channel. “I would like to play the Olympics, but the Zika virus, you know and all that crap.”

Golf will return to the Olympics in August for the first time since 1904. The games were elbowed into a congested schedule that for the men involves the U.S. Open from June 16-19, the British Open between July 14-17, the PGA Championship two weeks later and the Olympics two weeks after that.

The FedEx Cup series starts 14 days after the Olympics ends and the Ryder Cup (Sept. 30-Oct. 7) kicks off five days after the Tour Championship wraps up.

“My decision has been taken as a result of an extremely busy playing schedule around the time of the Olympics and other commitments, both personal and professional,” said Scott.

It is not difficult to imagine, with so many elite events squeezed into so few weeks, that other handsomely paid golf pros agree with Scott and Singh. Though many of today’s stars, including the so-called “Big 3” — top-ranked Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy — claim to be excited to perform in the Olympics, one has to wonder if they secretly wish they could bow out as well.

For now, Scott (and Singh to a lesser degree because, well, it’s just Vijay being Vijay) will take the heat for daring to say aloud what many may privately believe.

Unfortunately for the Aussie team, the player on tap to replace Scott may opt out as well, though the golf world is likely to cut Marc Leishman quite a bit more slack.

“I am aware I am now next in line but I must make sure I get all the relevant information because this will be a big decision for me and for my family,” Leishman, whose wife Audrey nearly died last year from infections, told the AAP.