The Des Moines Register’s Rick Brown Tweeted Tuesday that he thinks putting golf in the Olympics instead of wrestling is an “absolute joke.” Unfortunately for golf fans, Brown isn’t alone in his opinion. But few could have guess he’d get the support of PGA pro and 2007 Masters champ Zach Johnson.
Got to agree actually. RT @rickbrowndmr: I love golf, but putting it in the Olympics in place of wrestling is an absolute joke.
— Zach Johnson (@ZachJohnsonPGA) February 13, 2013
You could chalk Johnson’s support up to anything from the Iowa blood that runs through his veins - we hear they like wrestling - or the fact that the major winner has little chance of competing in Rio, since it’s not likely an American outside of the top-15* in the world will earn a spot in the Olympic field. Johnson is currently 25th and will be 40-years-old when Rio comes around, but we’ll let you be the judge.
All that said, golf wasn’t actually in jeopardy of being ousted from the Games Tuesday. It’s being admitted into the Olympic program in 2016 for the first time since the St. Louis Games in 1904, and is guaranteed a spot in the Olympics through 2020. And unlike Brown (or Johnson, really), we’re pretty excited to watch.
(*Only two golfers per country are eligible outside the top-15 in the world, but only if a country’s two spots aren’t taken by golfers in those top-15. And America’s almost certainly will be in Rio.)
