One year to go. The opening ceremony for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be held next summer on August 5th and will not only welcome thousands of world-class athletes from around the globe to compete on the biggest stage in sports, it will also officially welcome golf back to the Games for the first time since 1904.
To celebrate the one-year countdown for the Games, over a dozen Olympic medalists, past competitors and Olympic hopefuls gathered on the TODAY Show plaza in Rockefeller Center yesterday including two-time major champion Cristie Kerr. The LPGA Tour veteran took part in a full-morning media tour to help raise awareness to golf’s return to the Games with stops at the TODAY Show, Golf Channel’s Morning Drive, Weather Channel’s Wake Up With Al, NBC’s 1st Look and Access Hollywood.
Kerr was asked on several occasions how she would feel to represent the United States at the Olympics and the always expressive Kerr was hard pressed for words.
“It’s hard to put into words what competing as an Olympian would mean to me,” said Kerr.
Kerr is currently ranked 13th in the most recent Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings which will determine the Olympic Golf field. As of this week, she would be the fourth-ranked American in the field alongside Stacy Lewis, Lexi Thompson and Brittany Lincicome. The top-15 world-ranked players will be eligible for the Olympics, with a limit of four players from a given country. Beyond the top-15, players will be eligible based on the world rankings, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top-15.
“Next year, the heat will be on,” said Kerr. “I’ve been watching the rankings for a while and everyone will be trying to play their absolute best to make the team.”
Kerr also spoke out on where an Olympic medal would rank in her already long list of career achievements.
“I’ve won tournaments, I’ve won majors,” said Kerr. ‘I’m not downplaying anything I’ve already done but if I was able to win an Olympic medal, I think it would be the highlight of my career.”
Given the global reach of the Olympics across television platforms, Kerr is conscious about how impactful having women’s golf in the Olympics could be to growing the game.
“This is the single most impactful event for women’s golf,” said Kerr. “We’re a global tour as it is but we can’t reach as many eyeballs as the Olympic TV coverage. It’s the best platform for us to inspire young girls from all over the world to play golf. It’s a huge opportunity for us. We deserve to be on that stage and deserve to show everyone how good the LPGA Tour and the women golfers are. We’re very excited about that.”
The 17-time LPGA Tour winner was already trying to spread the golf love and was giving out swing tips on the golf simulator set up in Rockefeller Plaza to track and field bronze medalist David Oliver and 10-time Paralympic medalist Tatyana McFadden. On a panel of powerhouse female competitors on Access Hollywood alongside weightlifter Morghan King, three-time Olympic champion and recent World Cup champ Christie Rampone and four-time track and field Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross, Kerr was pleased to hear other world-class athletes protest on the difficulty of golf.
“I feel like I could play a lot of sports, but golf might be the hardest!” said King.
Kerr said she loved meeting the other athletes and now has a group to cheer for in Rio. She chatted and showed baby pictures with fellow mom Christie Rampone and said that she can’t wait for the stories of women golfers be told to the world.
“We have so many great stories and personalities on our Tour,” said Kerr. “The world will connect with our players and will hopefully invest in women’s golf in the future.”
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