Big names fall short in bid to build Oly course

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This article was published 08/03/2012 (5289 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SAO PAULO, Brazil — An American architect beat out some of golf’s biggest names for the right to design the 2016 Olympic golf course in Rio de Janeiro.

Gil Hanse will team up with Hall of Fame player Amy Alcott to build the first Olympic golf course since the sport was dropped following the 1904 St. Louis Games, after Rio organizers on Wednesday picked Hanse Golf Design over seven other finalists — including bids from Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman and Gary Player.

“I’m still a little bit stunned by the whole thing,” Hanse told The Associated Press by phone from Miami. “We are obviously very honoured, very humbled by the selection. It was a thrill just to be in the competition with these great designers. I’m excited that the selection panel felt that our efforts were the ones that best matched the criteria set by organizers.”

The Rio 2016 committee said Hanse Golf Design was “the candidate that most aptly met the selection criteria” issued by organizers, proposing a strong legacy component that prioritized a golf academy to help the sport’s development in Brazil.

“Hanse Golf Course Design tackled the challenge of designing a course for use by both elite and amateur athletes, one of the main legacy objectives,” the committee said in a statement. “It addressed the environmental sustainability directives for the games and efficiently conformed to the building restrictions on the land.”

The committee said that Hanse’s proposal “also effectively integrated native vegetation to the design, reducing the areas where frequent maintenance will be required.”

Hanse said their “respect for the land” made the difference.

“We like to build golf courses that are very environmentally sensitive,” he said.

Golf made its debut at the second modern Olympics in Paris in 1900, but lasted only one more games. It was reinstated in 2009 and is guaranteed to be at the 2020 Games, but a good impression in Rio would help keep the sport in the games beyond that. Another IOC vote on adding or removing sports is scheduled for 2017.

— The Associated Press