World number three Jon Rahm talked about the Summer Olympic Games ahead of this week's AT&T Byron Nelson. The Spaniard expressed his desire to represent his country in Tokyo, but “The Olympic committee is not making it very easy for us to choose it,” Rahm said. Аccording to him golfers won't be able to see the course before Wednesday in tournament week and it is a “one to two-hour drive” from where golfers will be staying.
“That’s a lot of time to be in the car going to and coming back from the Olympic Village, and then you can only go to the [course] on Wednesday,”....."There are just so many restrictions.” Rahm said.
OLY-2020-2021-TOKYO © Getty Images
The organizers of the Olympics already announced that international spectators won't be able to attend the events due to COVID-19 restrictions which means that golfers won't be able to bring their families alongside them. Moreover golfers won't be able to attend any other sporting events again due to the COVID-19. Several big names, including world number one Dustin Johnson and the 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott already said that they won't travel to Tokyo.
The Olympic golf competitions will be held in the Kasumigaseki Country Club, a private course in Saitama.
Founded
in 1929, the club hosted several professional and amateur tournaments. In 1957 it hosted Japan’s first-ever Golf World Cup.
The men's event will be staged from July 29 to August 1. That's two weeks after The Open at Royal St. George's GC and a week before World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro golf returned as an Olympic sport for the first time since the 1904th Games. In Rio Justin Rose claimed the golf medal, while his good friend Henrik Stenson won the silver. Matt Kuchar completed the top three and won the bronze medal for the United States.
