Dale Jackson Blog From Rio Olympics Day Two - Round 1
The View Looking Toward The 18th Green At The Olympic Golf Venue - The Barra da Tijuca - All Images Credit Dale Jackson
Victoria's Dale Jackson is in Rio as a golf rules official for the 2016 Olympic Games and is providing a daily blog on what he sees and experiences as Canada attempts to defend its Gold Medal from the 1904 Olympic Games the last time golf was a part of the quadrennial event.
Round 1 of the 2016 Olympic Golf Event In Rio - Djackson99's Profile
Well the first day of the reintroduction of golf into the Olympics is in the books and before getting to that let me say that the careful reader will notice I missed writing about yesterday. Regretfully, a combination of technology challenges and a suspect internet connection made for a frustrating time yesterday afternoon.
Briefly then, a rules meeting in the morning and a guided course tour later filled most of the day. A walking course tour is a great way to get all the referees up to speed and on the same page with possible rulings. A couple of the more important items were dealing with the many sandy areas on the course that are not played as bunkers but rather “waste areas” and with protecting land owl burrows.
Much of the course is left as natural as possible and that means many sandy areas are left natural
They are played as “through the green” and not bunkers. They have become filled with footprints and players are not receiving free relief if their ball ends up in one of the footprints because such footprints are not abnormal to the course.
One Of The Unusual Animals Found On The Course Are Land Owls, A Species Of Owls That Burrows In To The Land For Habitation
One of the unusual animals found on the course are land owls, a species of owls that burrows in to the land for habitation. One pair has burrowed into one of the bunkers on hole 9 and players will receive free relief if their ball ends up in or near the owl holes.
After the formal duties we were left to our own devices and I finished my day at the swimming venue watching some swimming. It was a great night that ended up with Canada winning a bronze medal in a relay. The only downside was that I attended the event with an Aussie friend who found delight in pointing out the several medals that Australia won during the course of the evening, while I was not able to properly respond.
To today then. I was assigned to the group of Joost Luiten (Netherlands), Ricardo Gouveia (Portugal) and Siddikar Rahman (Bangalesh). The players made some good shots and some bad. All were over par and probably thought they left some shots on the course.
Dale Jackson's Assigned Group For The Day: Siddikar Rahman (Bangalesh), Joost Luiten (Netherlands) And Ricardo Gouveia (Portugal)
My report on the round is short, I made only one ruling. On 16 Rahman’s ball came to rest on some television cables and I asked him to mark and lift his ball, move the cables and drop as near as possible to the spot on the course directly under the place where the ball lay on the cables, but not nearer the hole. Quite straight forward.
There were, in total, 28 rulings during the day, none of them in any way controversial or unusual. While that might make for a slightly boring report, it makes for a great day from the perspective of the tournament officials.
Tomorrow during my walk around the course I will be accompanied by Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Emiliano Grillo. Till tomorrow’s report then.
CLICK HERE for Dale's entry from Round 2