BLACK & GOLD
Proud Rose displays mettle at Bethpage
While several top golfers skipped the sport’s first foray into the Olympics since 1904 over health and safety concerns —or simply a lack of interest — gold medalist Justin Rose spoke glowingly of his Rio experience on Tuesday ahead of The Barclays tournament this week at Bethpage Black. “I think the Olympic gold medal has (helped golf) reach a much wider audience. I feel the attention that it receives has been huge outside of the game of golf,” said Rose, who edged Sweden’s Henrik Stenson to earn the gold for Great Britain. “I think that it captured the imagination of people who don’t play golf, just because it’s an Olympic sport. “I think I watch sports that I wouldn’t ordinarily watch because they are Olympic sports, and that’s going to be the same for golf, which can only be good for our game. … It was just a unique tournament and I can’t compare it to anything else. For me, it’s right up there with anything I’ve achieved in the game.” Prominent players such as Rory McIlroy and Zach Johnson have been outspoken about not supporting golf as an Olympic event. McIlroy also has admitted bailing on Brazil because of concerns over the Zika virus, while Johnson told reporters this week that the sport he plays wasn’t even among those he watched on television from Rio in recent weeks. “Obviously everybody who didn’t go is a world-class player and I think we all know who we are talking about,” Rose said. “They are all competitive guys and they all want a piece of the action, so I’m pretty sure that they are going to want to have a good run at it in 2020 (in Tokyo). “I saw it as an opportunity and hopefully now it’s been well-received and can move forward from here. Going forward to 2020, I hope the reaction will be a lot more positive. Rio, obviously there were some other factors involved in guys’ decision-making and hopefully that will be a bit of a smoother process in Tokyo.” Rose, who enters this tournament (the first stage of the FedEx Cup playoffs) ranked 51st in FedEx points, noted that he brought his gold medal with him this week after a brief return to London.
“It’s much easier to travel with than a normal trophy. You can just kind of slip it in your pocket and then carry on. So yeah, it’s traveling with me. It’s around,” the 2013 U.S. Open champion said. “A few people have mentioned ‘where is it, where is it?’ So maybe it’s something that I can keep in my golf bag or pop in the locker or something. It’s a unique and iconic thing, Olympic Gold.
“I’d be excited to see anybody’s gold medal, whether it be Usain Bolt or whoever it could be. It’s definitely an iconic piece of hardware and it does capture a lot of people’s imagination, and they are excited to see it and feel it and hold it.”
Rose, 36, sank a birdie putt on the 18th hole during the final round at the Olympics to snap a tie with Stenson, who had taken the British Open crown earlier this summer.
“You can drink out of the Claret Jug (for winning the Open championship), and I guess the Olympic Gold would be a nice coaster for the glass of wine,” Rose joked. “You had Union Jack flags flying. You had a huge Swedish contingent cheering on their man. From that point of view it felt very different from a normal tournament.”
Stenson had his silver medal with him at the Black course on Tuesday, hanging it from his golf bag and showing it off to fellow players and to fans around the driving range.
“I’m not one to run around and have my medal on at the supermarket. But of course, it’s a cool thing,” Stenson said. “There’s only three Olympic golf medals out there.”