Count Stacy Lewis among those players who will be sorely disappointed to learn the Olympic golf format isn't changing from 72-hole individual stroke play.
Lewis was quoted, along with several other LPGA players, in an Oregonian piece (found by Geoff Shackelford) on the looming inclusion of the sport in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro for the first time since 1904.
“I would like to see the team thing, just for the country part of it, and to make it different from a major or a Ryder Cup or Solheim Cup,” Lewis said. “Just a different format so it has some sort of different meaning to it.”
Lewis isn't the only one. A number of players, including the savvy Geoff Ogilvy, Graeme McDowell and Martin Laird, have called for some kind of nationalistic team competition rather than strictly an individual endeavor for the gold.
Regardless of the format, however, Lewis was quick to point out the exposure will be great for the game - a point hard to argue, that is, unless it comes across as boring in front of a multinational audience.
“It’s going to be great for our tour," she said, "and it's going to be good exposure to get us out on the national stage, get us on NBC, and get that good exposure that the guys get every week."
At No. 3 in the current Rolex Rankings, Lewis would easily get into the field if the cutoff for Rio was decided today.
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