PGA Tour pros, by a huge margin and in what should be a surprise to few, would rather win the so-called fifth major than an Olympic gold medal.
PGA Tour pros would rather win The Players Championship than Olympic gold
It’s not exactly a news flash, but the annual Golf.com anonymous poll of PGA and LPGA Tour players makes it clear that winning a gold medal at the Olympics just doesn’t make the cut when compared with winning a major title.
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Some 62 percent of players on tour indicated in Golf.com’s annual anonymous survey of PGA and LPGA Tour golfers that capturing The Players Championship was more important to them than coming in first in the summer games in Rio.
While it’s no secret that some players, including reigning Players champ Rickie Fowler, have acknowledged they would opt for winning an actual major than bringing home the gold, Olympics advocates were no doubt disheartened to learn that only 38 percent of tour pros ranked medaling over The Players.
The percentage of those dissing the Olympics rose to 71 percent with a major on the line.
“Gold would be cool,” noted one player, “but a major is a major.”
Somewhere Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Vijay Singh are nodding knowingly. The four international players have already withdrawn themselves from consideration for the August Olympics, which will feature golf for the first time since 1904.
In other top-secret balloting, 49 percent of those voting said they believed Phil Mickelson would be a better Ryder Cup captain than Tiger Woods. Lefty, currently seventh in points needed to make the team, will likely be on the field for this season’s matches while Tiger is slated to be one of Davis Love III’s vice captains.
Speaking of Woods, 42 percent of voters believe the 14-time major champion will win another tour event. “I’m optimistic, but running out of reasons,” one player said about Tiger, who is working his way back to the tour after a lengthy hiatus to rehab his back after three surgeries. Woods’ last competitive round was in August at the Wyndham Championship.
The poll also answers other burning questions of our time, such as which golfer his peers would want on his back in a bar fight (hint: it’s not Bubba Watson), who has the “prettiest swing” on tour (“Not the Americans, that’s for sure,” noted one LPGA voter), whether the PGA Tour should ditch Doral because of Donald Trump’s controversial positions (nope), and whether LPGA players believe Michelle Wie will win another major (not so much).
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