On The Tee...

I lamented earlier about the lack of participation by the world's best golfers in the sport's return to the Olympics for the first time since 1904. Well, it's time to forget about those that aren't there and focus on those that are playing as the tournament gets underway on Thursday!

Competing for the U.S. we have:
Bubba Watson
Rickie Fowler
Patrick Reed
Matt Kuchar

Other notable international players:
Henrik Stenson - Sweden
David Lingmerth - Sweden
Justin Rose - Great Britain
Danny Willet - Great Britain
Alex Cejka - Germany
Martin Kaymer - Germany
Sergio Garcia - Spain
Rafa Cabrera Bell - Spain
Emiliano Grillo - Argentina
Fabian Gomez - Argentina
Thongchai Jaidee - Thailand
Anirban Lahiri - India
Byeong Hun An - South Korea
Patraig Harrington - Ireland
Danny Lee - New Zealand
Thomas Pieters - Belgium
Nicolas Colsaerts - Belgium
Soren Kjeldsen - Denmark
Thorbjorn Olesen - Denmark
Bernd Wiesberger - Austria
Mikko Ilonen - Finland
David Hearn - Canada
Graham Deleat - Canada
Joost Luiten - Netherlands
Jhonattan Vegas - Venezuela

I think a good amount of these guys could have a shot at winning because it's such an unknown event and everyone has had about the same amount of time on the course. Stenson is probably playing the best out of everyone at the moment. Willet is another major winner (Masters) from this year, while Watson, Rose and Kaymer have all won majors in the past few years.

Side note: I knew Grillo and An as junior golfers and now they're Olympians. That's crazy to me!

I'm obviously cheering for one of the U.S. players to take home the gold and the rest of the medals as well. Reed tends to play really well in events that he's representing the USA. He just really gets behind the idea of playing for the flag and puts it all out there.

I love that Fowler has really been embracing the Olympic experience. He was the only one of the four Americans to march in the opening ceremony (the other three played in the PGA event last weekend) and has been attending a variety of events. He's posted photos/videos from table tennis, diving, swimming and other events. He's practicing during the day and taking in the experience at night. He was interviewed and asked the coolest moment so far. Without hesitation, he said being a part of the opening ceremony. I think he's doing a pretty good job of making all those who withdrew pretty jealous they're not there.