LPGA pullout
Previewing the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, an LPGA major that begins Thursday,
When the LPGA season began, Brooke Henderson was an 18-year-old trying to succeed during her first full season on the tour. Now after nine top-10 finishes, Henderson has her eyes set on another goal: winning Olympic gold for Canada.
The sport returns to the Games for the first time in 112 years. The Olympic tournament has left a mark on the LPGA tour this year, crunching together a hectic schedule but also giving players another high-profile tournament to compete in.
“I think it’s a really cool opportunity to go to the highest stage for a lot of other athletes,” Henderson said.
“On the other hand, I think that the LPGA majors are just as big as the Olympics or even bigger in terms of golf. Or in terms of all the other sports, I think it’s really cool that golf ’s back in.”
Like Henderson, golfers on tour are happy to see the sport earn a spot back in the Olympics, giving women’s golf a platform to grow and a new spotlight for its stars. Sixty women will compete in Rio from Aug. 17 to Aug. 20. The top 15 in the Rolex Rankings are guaranteed a spot, unless there are more than four per individual country.
For American Gerina Piller, who passed into the top 15 in late May and now sits 16th in the Rolex Rankings, it’s an accomplishment she cherishes. The qualification period ends July 11.
“To be at the Olympics is really awesome,” she said. “I didn’t really think it was something that could be attainable, but now I’m sitting that I’m qualified, so it’s pretty cool.”
Gaby Lopez views golf ’s inclusion in the Olympics as an opportunity to grow the game and put it on the same pedestal as swimming or tennis, which benefit from the publicity and viewership of the Games. And in a sport that needs star power, the Olympics also can highlight different story lines, she says.
“It’s going to have a huge impact,” Lopez said. “And for me and my country, young kids just getting to start the game again, because in Mexico golf is not very big, but when we talk about sports everyone watches the Olympics.”
Still, there are consequences. The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship this weekend is in the middle of a stretch of tournaments on 11 consecutive weekends. It’s a grueling period that began last month, includes three majors and concludes with the British Open on the final weekend of July.
Those who decide to play in every tournament will find themselves hopscotching between three continents in less than a month as they fight for re- sults and earnings. Golfers such as Piller will pick and choose which tournaments to participate in and try to pace themselves to prevent burnout. Rest, she and others assert, will be key.
Then there is the most conspicuous worry for golfers — the Zika virus. It’s left golfers relying on their governing bodies to provide protection. Lopez said the Mexican golf federation will provide vaccinations, and that assuages her enough to not diminish her zeal to play in the Olympics. There is no vaccine for the Zika virus.
“My excitement to go to Rio is bigger than worrying about the Zika (virus),” she said. “I know we have to take precautions, but I’m very sure that the international golf federation is going to take care of us. I don’t think there is going to be a major risk. If there will be, we wouldn’t play there.
“I know it’s a risk at any event. You can get bitten by any bug or any spider or any other kind of bug, so I don’t think it’s a major thing. If they would find it very, very risky, they wouldn’t put their players in risk, especially the best in the world.”