Jump to content

Recommended Posts

McIlroy has put talk of who he would represent at the Rio Olympics on the backburner as he looks to continue his stunning run of form. The two-time major winner lifted the BMW Championship in Carmel on Sunday night - his second successive PGA title - but woke up to some stories about a supposed dispute over who he would turn out for when golf gains Olympic status in 2016. Quotes attributed to the County Down-born 23-year-old said he felt "more British than Irish", suggesting he would look to be a part of the all-conquering Team GB in Brazil. But McIlroy took to his official Twitter feed on Monday night to deliver a statement which said he had made no such decisions and was purely concentrating on golf. "I am in an extremely sensitive and difficult position and I conveyed as much in a recent newspaper interview," he wrote. "I am a proud product of Irish golf and the Golfing Union of Ireland. I am also a proud Ulsterman who grew up in Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom. That is my background and always will be. "I receive great support from both Irish and British fans alike and it is greatly appreciated." Golf will be making its Games debut in Rio and although still some time away, a number of players have already been asked for their thoughts on it, but with a Ryder Cup less than three weeks away, world number one McIlroy is not entertaining talk of it, or of who he will be playing for when the time comes. "I wish to clarify I have absolutely not made a decision regarding my participation on the next Olympics," he added. "On a personal level, playing in the Olympics would be a huge honour. However, the Games in Rio are four years away and I certainly won't be making any decisions with regard to participation any time soon. "My focus right now is on being the best player I can be, trying to win major championships and contributing to what will hopefully be a victorious Ryder Cup side."

Mick Mac Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> It's his choice. He is I think from a family of

> mixed religion, so no clear indication there and

> so he really is going to find it difficult to

> choose. I don't think his choice will actuallly

> upset anyone.


Of course it will. There are plenty of small minded idiots out there who will take offence whichever way he chooses. If he does feel more British than Irish then he should go for Team GB and ask to change it to its correct name, Team GB & NI.

>

> If he chooses GB he might get to play with Gmac,

> but more realistically 3 English players. If that

> is likely to happen he may be swayed towards

> Ireland, if Gmac does not get picked for GB.


Both he and GMac represented Ireland in the golf World Cup as a team. But like rugby, hockey & cricket, they have one team representing the whole 'country'. In Brazil it wont be a team event as such, though each country is limited in how many golfers they can enter.


http://golf.about.com/od/tourmajorevents/f/olympicformatfield.htm


The only certain golfers to gain entry are the top 15 in the World rankings. If there are two or more from GB & NI in that 15 they could all play. But if Gmac for example finished 16th and didn't qualify for the GB team he may well qualify for the Ireland team.

Alan Medic Wrote:

-----------------------------------------------------

> The only certain golfers to gain entry are the top

> 15 in the World rankings. If there are two or more

> from GB & NI in that 15 they could all play. But

> if Gmac for example finished 16th and didn't

> qualify for the GB team he may well qualify for

> the Ireland team.


Hopefully they'll have to choose which country they wish to represent before rankings decide who can play, otherwise it'll just be seen as a flag of convenience...

Alan Medic Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------


> The only certain golfers to gain entry are the top

> 15 in the World rankings. If there are two or more

> from GB & NI in that 15 they could all play. But

> if Gmac for example finished 16th and didn't

> qualify for the GB team he may well qualify for

> the Ireland team.



Yes - thats why I said he's more likely to end up in a team with 3 English payers, being Donald, Westwood and either Rose/Poulter if he goes the GB route.


I'm not sure he'd necessarily want that.



I'm a step ahead of you Declan, as usual. ;-)



I stick to my original view that I think he'll end up plumping for Ireland, unless his mate Gmac is likely to also make the GB team.

  • 3 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Depends on what the Barista says doesnt it? There was no physical confrontation with the driver, OP thinks she is being targetted when she isnt. These guys work min wage under strict schedules so give them a break unless they damage your stuff
    • CPR Dave, attendance records are available on Southwark's website. Maggie Browning has attended 100% of meetings. Jon Hartley has attended 65%.
    • I do hope NOT, wouldn't trust Farage as far as I could throw him, Starmer & co.  He's backed by GB News which focus's predominantly on immigration while the BBC focus predominantly on the Israel - Gazza conflict.   
    • Everyone gets the point that Corbynites try to make with the "total number of votes cast" statistic, it's just a specious one.  In 2017, Corbyn's Labour got fewer votes than May's Tories (both the percentage of votes and aggregate number of votes). In 2019, Corbyn's Labour fewer votes than Johnson's Tories (both the percentage of votes and aggregate number of votes); and he managed to drop 2.7 million votes or 6.9% of vote share between the two elections. I repeat, he got trounced by Boris F***ing Johnson and the Tories after the Brexit omnishambles. It is not true that a "fairer" electoral system would have seen Labour beat the Tories: Labour simply got fewer votes than the Tories. Corbyn lost twice. There is no metric by which he won the general election. His failure to win was a disaster for the UK, and let Johnson and Truss and Sunak into office. Corbynites have to let go of this delusion that Corbyn but really won somehow if you squint in a certain way. It is completely irrelevant that Labour under Corbyn got more votes than Labour under Starmer. It is like saying Hull City was more successful in its 2014 FA Cup Final than Chelsea was in its 2018 FA Cup Final, because Hull scored 2 goals when Chelsea only scored 1. But guess what - Chelsea won its game and Hull City lost. Corbyn's fans turned out to vote for him - but an even larger group of people who found him repellant were motivated enough to show up and vote Tory.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...