Paris or Akron? You'll be spoiled for choice for golf this week. On the European tour, the Open de France is staged, on the course of Le Golf National, in Guyancourt, near the capital, where, in two years' time, the Ryder Cup will be played.
The PGA, on the other hand, is in Akron, Ohio, at the Firestone CC, on the South Course, for one of the great tournaments of the season, the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. The best players in the world, for the occasion, have divided their paths: the number four Rory McIlroy and the number nine Danny Willett have chosen Paris, where five Italians will also take the field, Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari, Matteo Manassero, Nino Bertasio and Renato Paratore; number one Jason Day, number two Jordan Spieth and number three Dustin Johnson opted for the world championship in Ohio and so did Henrik Stenson, winner last week in Germany, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott and Justin Rose.
The jackpot in the United States is very rich: 9,5 million dollars, 1,620 million for the first. In Europe the circuit, for now, offers more modest stakes and stops at 3,5 million euros, with a first coin of 583 thousand euros.
Those who want to indulge themselves in following their favorites from one pole to the other can do so on Sky Sports which offers good live coverage of both events (the European tour during the day and the American one in the evening).
In the meantime, the long series of cancellations of golfers from the Rio Olympic challenge. Already said no Jason Day, McIlroy, Adam Scott, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, Marc Leishman, Vijay Singh and Charl Schwartzel. Spieth hasn't decided yet, but other farewells will follow those already recorded. The official reason is the fear of ZIka and it must be admitted that the irrigated green valleys are often infested with mosquitoes.
According to Spieth there is also a security issue, which he is trying to explore further. It must also be said that the great golf professionals are used to fighting for a mountain of money and that medals can seem unattractive.
Furthermore the best ones have a lot to lose, as an image, because the odds of a gold are modest, compared to those of the number ones in other sports. In fact, we need to reflect on this: the top 10 players in the world compete in 20-25 tournaments in a year and win 5 at the most. Tiger Woods, at the peak of his career, managed up to 8 victories, because he was a phenomenon. The other tournaments? I forgive them. The best player, in Rio, can therefore look like an amateur and explaining this fact to those who don't know about it is difficult.
Not to mention that the season is too full of races one after the other: two weeks after Rio there are the Playoffs and the Ryder Cup (the only event that players compete for glory. But it's a challenge to teams). These are all reasons that weigh and so the cancellations flock.
It's a shame because golf returns to the Olympics after more than a hundred years and immediately reveals an unsportsmanlike face. What to say? We Italians resist: Francesco Molinari already has his suitcases packed and Nino Bertasio is fighting to enter the list of 60 qualifiers. However, time is running out, because on July 11th one draws a line and Paris is one of the last chances to score points.
