It
is in the following days that the Rio Olympic’s organizing committee will
announce the team that will be in charge of designing the golf course which
will be host of the Olympic golf competition for men and women in 2016, 112
years after the last presence of the sport in the games.
This
project is probably the one that has generated the most interest from
architects in many years, simply because of the prestige and visibility that
this course will obtain during the games. This will no doubt be a dream opportunity for a
team to make its mark in the industry, and be talked about for a very long
time. But it will also be a very complex
project that will be created under the eyes of the entire industry which will
expect nothing less than a grand slam. In
other words, this course will be picked apart by hundreds of so-called
architecture “experts”!
Many
teams have submitted a bid to hopefully be chosen in a competition that started
last fall. Now, eight teams remain in the hunt:
·
Jack Nicklaus et Annika
Sorenstam
·
Tom Doak
·
Greg Normal et Lorena
Ochoa
·
Martin Hawtree
·
Gill Hanse
·
Gary Player
·
Robert
Trent Jones II et Mario Gonzalez
·
Peter Thompson and Ross
Perrett
These
teams will make a final presentation to a jury comprised of one representative
from the city of Rio, one representative from the organizing committee, one
representative from the company that will run the course once the games will be
done, and finally, one representative from the International Golf Federation –
an organization committed to promoting the sport worldwide.
As
far as I am concerned, the choice of the architect will be crucial, even if the
majority of viewers who will follow the golf events will have no clue who the
architect of the course is, and what difference it makes. The choice is crucial because of the prestige
of the event, and the fact that this will be an occasion for this committee to
send a message as to what constitutes a great golf course that represents not
only the Olympic movement and all of its values, but also the roots of the game
of golf (and no, I am not talking about money!).
I
sincerely hope that their choice will not go towards one of golf’s emblematic
figures still part of the process, such as Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman or Gary
Player. These athletes and great personalities
have certainly contributed to the popularity of the sport, and in that regard,
they have all of my admiration and respect.
But their very lucrative association with a immense quantity of course designs
has also contributed in making golf the sport that so many people today describe
as expensive, elitist, and at the source of profitable home lots, without any
regards to the modest and populist origins of the sport. Can we blame them, and many others similar
golf figures? Certainly not; they have only surfed on the wave. Today, however, it seems evident that their
model has to make place to a simpler, more accessible one, aimed towards developing
the sport and all its benefits, particularly with an aging population in many
markets. It seems like the only logical
way to help the sport develop again.
In
that sense, my vote goes to either Tom Doak or Gill Hanse: two architects which,
in my humble opinion, have solidly made their case in the past few years
towards that goal. It’s also not a
surprise that is it most likely these two teams that have the smallest
available financial resources to participate in this complex process which, I
am afraid, will be more politic than based on good old common sense and the
artistic and creative qualities of the finalists.
To
be continued in a few days…. I am crossing my fingers.
