Gary Player: IOC can’t dump golf

As I depart #Rio2016 & reflect on the past fortnight, I have made new friends, helped my fellow countrymen & greatly admire all athletes. GP

— Gary Player (@garyplayer) August 20, 2016

Player, 81, also reiterated his disappointment at the players who chose to skip the Games, particularly those who opted out over concerns about the Zika virus.

“I didn’t even see a single mosquito” – Gary Player

“As the curtain falls on the first golf tournament to be held at the Olympics in more than 100 years, I look back at my whole Rio experience,” he continued. “Brazil is a country of many extremes. There is poverty beyond belief, unimaginable riches, and everything in between.

CONTINUES BELOW…

“I didn’t even see a single mosquito and that makes me more disappointed in the people who withdrew using Zika as an excuse.

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“One may ask should Rio ever have hosted the Olympics or should they perhaps have used the money to better the lives of their people? I am not in a position to answer this question but will certainly never forget my experience. I had a wonderful time here and think that Brazil and the IOC did a marvellous job hosting a spectacle of this magnitude.

“Golf was the winner… more countries than ever have joined the International Golf Federation” – Gary Player

“At the end, golf was the winner and having so many new people watch golf we can only hope smaller countries will follow in the footsteps of this great sport. More countries than ever before have joined the International Golf Federation, a great omen for the future of golf around the world.”

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Gary Player: Read his Olympic diary

Log-on to garyplayer.com to read Gary Player’s diary from Rio.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor