Will the Olympics ever rival the Majors?

The return of the Olympics after a five-year hiatus has rekindled the question of whether winning a Gold Medal will ever rival winning a Major. At this moment in time, it’s hard to make a case for ‘yes’ given the history and traditions of golf and the prestige attached to winning one of golf’s four established giants.

Still, The Open started as an eightman event and The Masters had some early struggles, so there’s clearly scope for things to change.

But, for the Olympics to really move up in stature, it needs to become a priority for all of the world’s best players, something that clearly isn’t the case at the moment. The likes of Dustin Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen and Tyrrell Hatton have eschewed the Games, with reasons ranging from coronavirus to prioritisation of the WGC-FEDEX St Jude. Given how quickly things can change in golf, it seems odd so many players have decided not to represent their countries at a global festival of sport. That said, you could make a case for the field being stronger than in Rio, so if that trend continues, who knows where we’ll be in 50 years.