A special Olympics press conference was recently held with Canadian golfer Graham DeLaet and Russian female golfer Caroline Masson.
With only 85 days left until the 2016 Olympics in Rio, both golfers were asked about their thoughts about golf returning to the Olympics for the first time since 1904.
“I think I’ve been lucky enough to represent Canada a few times in different international events, World Cups and Presidents Cups, and there’s something just really, really special about just putting your flag on your back and going to play for 35 million people, and it’s something that I hope I have the opportunity to do,” said DeLaet.
Of course, his selection as one of Canada’s four players (two male and two female) for the 2016 Olympics is not finalized yet. The final calculation on who ranks first and second respectively on the PGA and LPGA Tours will be made on July 11.
DeLaet did note that Canada is the defending champions for Olympic gold in golfing. “Rumor has it that when George Line won (the Olympics), he walked on his hands to the podium. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I promise I won’t do that.”
Gesturing to the Canadian flag, he said “this is what we were playing for right here. It’s amazing like we’re out here, we’re playing for money, we’re playing for our job, we’re playing for FedExCup points, but we go down there and you’re playing for pride, and there’s something really special about that.”
“It’s something that from the time it was announced it was really important to me to try to be on this team, and I hope to be able to do it. I think that like we were saying about growing the game,” said DeLaet.
Graham DeLaet is currently golfing in The Players Championship, which started on Thursday. He is currently ranked the top Canadian golfer on the Official World Golf Rankings, which would mean he would represent Canada at the 2016 Olympics.
