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Rio de Janeiro
Hours after launching the first Olympic golf shot in more than a century, Brazil native Adilson da Silva wiped away tears and paused to gather himself as he remembered his start in the game.
As he talked about turning tree branches into homemade clubs, I began rewriting this story.
Having always wondered why a sport like tennis is part of the Olympics, with players treating the Games like just another stop in a worldwide schedule dotted with major events, I viewed golf's inclusion the same way and intended to say so.
That was before da Silva completed his round on a cool, cloudy Thursday morning and walked through the interview area, trying with partial success to tell his story of growing up as a Brazilian golfer. And then Ireland's Padraig Harrington likened teeing off in the Olympics to standing on the No. 1 tee at St. Andrews or Augusta National for the first time. That's how nervous he was, and that's how you knew these guys really cared about playing in this tournament.
"Thankfully," Harrington said, recalling the spacious No. 1 fairway, "they gave us a big target."
Canada's Graham DeLaet has experienced some nervous moments on the PGA Tour, "but not the first tee shot of the week," he said. "It was definitely a different feeling."
So I'm converted. Olympic golf is a good thing, with this qualifier: Organizers need to create a team component. That would help distinguish this tournament from just another 72-hole stroke-play event, and team scores wouldn't overshadow the individual medal competition.
Tennis remains a weird sport in the Olympics, the latest evidence being the early the exits of Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic from the singles draw this week. The first golf gold medalist in 112 years could be a fairly obscure player, if Australia's Marcus Fraser maintains his lead after posting an 8-under-par 63. Then again, he'll have to beat the likes of British Open champion Henrik Stenson, who matched DeLaet's 66.
And something bigger could be in play here. As fans entered the gates, many stopped to visit a mini-golf layout. Some of them, who obviously never had held a club, took brief lessons and hit balls into a net.
The hope is that golf catches on in Brazil, a country with only a few courses. The newly built Olympic Course, a few miles from the Olympic Park, will become a public facility.
That's why it was designed to be playable, with wide fairways. Sand dunes and natural vegetation frame the holes nicely, with hills and high-raise buildings in the background.
The setting is understated, yet spectacular, and scores will be low this week. Harrington is biased, as an Olympic golf advocate, but he described the vibe from the players as very positive. The likes of Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Jordan Spieth, who cited Zika virus fears for staying home, are "definitely missing out," Harrington said.
I'll say this: No mosquitoes were sighted Thursday (although I did see a bunker where burrowing rodents had tunneled a huge hole).
The players were somewhat surprised by the sizable gallery — bigger than a weekday crowd at the Las Vegas PGA Tour stop, via my frame of reference — and much higher attendance is expected this weekend. Da Silva, who plays South Africa's Sunshine Tour and posted a 72 to tie for 34th in the 60-player field, apologized to his group about Brazilian fans "cheering at the wrong times" as they followed him.
The other golfers understood. "We're not there yet," da Silva said, "but we're learning."
Utahns have helped make this happen in Brazil. Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School graduate Tyler Dennis is administering the competition as the PGA Tour's liaison to the International Golf Federation, having made multiple visits to Rio. Sandy resident Mike Weir was a major proponent of Olympic golf, although it arrived after his reign as Canada's top player.
DeLaet, a former Boise State golfer, is pursuing that title, while hoping to become a repeat Olympic champion for Canada. The 1904 winner in St. Louis was George Lyon, whose swing once was likened to "harvesting corn with a scythe."
Golf clubs undoubtedly felt like foreign objects to some people who were swinging them for the first time Thursday, but they admirably kept trying. The Olympics brought Brazilians out to a golf course, and that's good for them.
Twitter: @tribkurt