WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The International Olympic Committee has voted to add golf to the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Olympics, too, so it's congratulations to the lords of the game, like Jack Nicklaus, the most authoritative and respected of voices on this cause, and Joe Steranka, CEO of the PGA of America, whose association was one of many within the industry that worked together to clear schedules and push hard for this result.
Problem is, the whole thing comes off like overkill.
Golf already is the most international of sports with tons of competition splattered all over the calendar. The Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship are long established as summits for the world's best male players, and the LPGA has its majors, too.
Throw in the Ryder Cup (for men) and the Solheim Cup (for women) and all those World Golf Championship events on the PGA Tour (Doral is only one of them) and there are national flags flapping up a storm and bagpipes tuning up for opening ceremonies every time you turn around.
Tiger Woods, who says he'll play at Rio, issued a statement Friday that backs the Olympic idea but, awkwardly enough, helps to make my point.
"There are millions of young golfers worldwide who would be proud to represent their country," Tiger said from the site of the Presidents Cup in San Francisco, where already he is representing his country against top stars from Australia, South Africa, Colombia, Argentina, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Fiji.
Which vital growth market for golf are we leaving out here? Mars?
Admittedly, there's a part of me that resists giving global sports superstars a full share of the Olympic experience. Archaic as the notion seems, this once was a showcase for intensely dedicated athletes in more obscure endeavors, many of whom will never get rich playing their sports and who get just one big brush with the cameras and the worldwide attention every four years.
After personally covering many Olympics, it often bugged me that NBC served up only what it thought America would tolerate while ignoring events that are hugely important in Olympic history and widely loved in other parts of the world.
For instance, I watched as closely as possible during the Beijing Olympics and never saw more than a snippet of highlights from the decathlon, the ultimate test of overall athletic skill. Wouldn't want America to stretch an inch outside its comfort zone, right?
Soon we'll be getting long, live feeds of golf greats who want a gold medal to add to their glowing resumes. They'll mingle at the opening ceremonies, posing for pictures with other Olympians who can't believe their good fortune in getting such access to a real star, and then it's off to some country club on the beach for the competition, far from the Olympic Village. If any of them come back for a second try, it will be a surprise.
The golf schedule, which already will need to squeeze the Olympics in somewhere around the British Open or the PGA Championship, already is busy enough.
Tennis is the best parallel. Does anyone really care who wins the gold medals in that event, or don't Wimbledon and all the other major world gatherings of the game still dominate?
At the risk of riling up the soccer crowd, I'll say that the World Cup eliminates the need for soccer at the Olympics, too.
Getting golf in the Games will mean additional expensive golf course projects getting off the ground in Kiev and Singapore and Cairo, however, which is good for the industry in tough economic times. And the IOC gets a guaranteed boost of money from a sport that's plugged into corporate sponsorship like few others. From my viewpoint, that's the real bottom line here, just like always.
Dave George writes for The Palm Beach Post. E-mail: dave(underscore)george(at)pbpost.com.