Vijay Singh has told Olympic officials in Fiji that he will not be playing the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The event, that will be played at the Reserva de Marapendi Golf course, between August 11th – 14th has had a lot of excitement surrounding it, since the courses construction, in 2013 with many players aiming for gold.
However over the course of the last few months, there has been much discussion whether every player who qualifies for the 2016 Olympics will officially play but now the tournament has lost its first player.
The three-time Major champion in an interview with Golf Channel at this week’s RBC Heritage event commented on his reasons for withdrawing.
“The timing of it, you know I have to focus over here [on the PGA TOUR]. I would like to play the Olympics, but the Zika Virus, you know and all that crap”.
Singh had previously commented and looked forward to playing in this years Olympics but has now said he wants to solely focus on his game and the PGA Tour summer schedule.
“I feel bad, I wanted to play and finally decided agaisnt it. It’s in the middle of the Tour over here and I’m trying to figure out my game”.
Singh is the first player out of the already qualified 60-player field but not the only player who has withdrawn from the 2016 Games.
52-year-old Miguel Angel Jimenez, who is listed as an alternate for Spain has also officially withdrawn himself from the players available. Although, this should not affect Spanish hopes of Gold as still available are Sergio Garcia and Rafa Cabrera-Bello, who have both qualified.
The long wait for Golf back into the Olympics for 112 years has also brought some other news. Both the Men’s and Women’s Gold medalists will both receive exemptions into the 2017 Major Championships.
Twitter: Men’s and Women’s #OlympicGolf gold medalists at #Rio2016 will receive exemptions into golf’s Major Championships. https://t.co/CuxrYkdUMS (@OlympicGolf)
