Thu, Aug 18, 2016


Lifestyle
Golf’s return to Olympics is a huge success


The return of golf to the Olympic Games after 112 years has been hailed as huge success, with the UK’s Justin Rose winning gold in the men’s event, watched by a sell-out crowd of 15,000.

Many were witnessing golf for the very first time.

The women’s event is currently under way with the final round on Saturday.

The men’s and women’s individual events attracted as many as 120 women and men golfers to the 72-hole tournament.

Though some of the game’s top stars including Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy were missing, the event has been rated a success by officials, players and spectators alike.

The golf course for Rio 2016 lies within the Reserva de Marapendi and Omega, the timekeeper for the Games, has cutting-edge technologies at the course working together to generate information.

These include a mobile scoring system recording the number of shots taken by each player and 36 laser positioning systems to identify the position of the balls and showing the data in real time. 

The laser system also helps enhanced statistics such as number of putts, fairway shots and how many shots have gone in the rough.

Surrounding the course, 11 scoreboards show a leaderboard with scores and player names.

Also, four scoreboards are at ground level on four tees, all equipped with radar measurement systems. As a player tees off, information is captured and then displayed to spectators so that they can closely follow the action. 

Along with the player’s name, country and current score, the scoreboard shows an immediate output of the stroke speed, estimated distance and height of the stroke. 

Cheap tickets helped pull in the crowds and despite their unorthodox behaviour, golfing officials were delighted by the response. 

International Golf Federation President Peter Dawson told BBC Sport that “It was quite rowdy at times out there … but it added to the atmosphere and there is nothing wrong with that. That's just what we wanted”.

And gold medallist Rose said that he believed the scenes and festive atmosphere generated at the tournament will draw those top golfers who missed out to the next Summer Olympics in 2020, which will be held in Tokyo.





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