I don't think Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy did themselves or golf any favours in pulling out of the Olympics. Rory especially with his rather churlish comments, reeking of entitlement. I thought he'd grown up a bit more than that. But today's news of a zika virus outbreak in Florida, the first cases apparently transmitted by mosquitos in the USA, makes me wonder, as they all blamed zika for their no-show, whether the world's top 4 golfers will boycott PGA Tour events in Florida next year. After all, if the Florida cases, affecting people who haven't travelled or had contact with people who have brought the virus back to the USA from other countries are confirmed then similar travel advice is likely to apply to Florida as Brazil. This advice relates mainly to pregnant women, a category to which the world's top four golfers presumably assigned themselves.
There aren't any PGA events in Florida in the rest of 2016. But 2017's calendar includes The Honda Classic (at Palm Beach Gardens, 20 Feb), the Valspar Championship (at Palm Harbor, 6 March), the Arnold Palmer Invitational (at Orlando, 13 March) and The Player's Championship (at Sawgrass, 8 May).
I think we know the answer already. Money talks and these guys probably don't know what a hypocrite is. I expect they will find that there haven't been any zika carrying mosquitos within some safe distance of these golf courses (the flying radius of the mosquitos is only 150 yards). Which is probably also true of where the Olympic event is being held, but there you go.
Mind, the golfers ignored risk assessment advice for Rio, which concluded that the risk was low in the Brazilian winter (mosquito season there ends in March). As evidence, Dengue fever is another mosquito borne infection and, during the 2014 World Cup, only 3 out of the one million tourists who went to Brazil for the tournament contracted it. Indeed gastro-intestinal infections and flu are considered higher risks (and probably mugging). Flu is a much more dangerous disease than zika, killing 30,000 Americans annually. The total number of Americans who have died from zika so far? Zero. But flu doesn't have the dread factor of birth defects. Meanwhile in Brazil, as Peter Dawson (former Chief Executive of the R&A) pointedly noted "I take great heart from the fact we haven’t lost a greenkeeper yet."
It's not clear to me whether zika has been contracted near the Olympic golf venue, but there are two manmade ponds on the course. Special mosquito repellant might be distributed to fans, and officials plan to create movement in the ponds to eliminate standing water.
Anyway, don't let it put you off your game at Baltusrol, chaps. (Oops, Dustin's and Rory's game went to pot in the first round anyway....) I fully expect to see you all teeing it up at Sawgrass on the TV in May.
Some of the above information comes from:
1. the American science and health website Vox (http://www.vox.com/2016/5/25/11760228/zika-virus-risk-rio-olympics-2016
2. the American news site UPI (http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2016/02/08/Zika-Virus-a-new-concern-for-Olympic-Golf-in-Brazil/6941454948924/)
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