Big hitters in China put faith in the numbers

They may have finished out of the medals but two Irish golfers helped make golfing history over the past two weeks as the sport made its first appearance in an Olympic event for 110 years.

Teenagers Kevin LeBlanc and Olivia Mehaffey had the honour of representing Ireland at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, as golf re-entered the International Olympic Committee fold in a country described by one of the Chinese game’s most influential figures as “the next frontier”.

When golf last featured in an Olympics, at the 1904 Games in St Louis, only the USA, Canada and Great Britain participated. From three countries, the International Golf Federation expects more than 30 to be represented at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio and the global reach of the game was also on show in Nanjing as China hosted 64 athletes from 34 countries competing in three events, a men’s, women’s and mixed competition at the Gary Player-designed Zhongshan International Golf Club.