No Players, No Problem: Brazilian Golf Confederation

(ATR) The Brazilian Golf Confederation (CBG) tells Around the Rings lack of infrastructure and players at the Olympic golf course is not a worry.

A spokesperson for the confederation says although the Rio de Janeiro Olympic course is in use, it is merely a soft opening of the course for the public. Earlier this week, international media visited the course in Rio and found an unfinished clubhouse, unpaid maintenance staff and an abundance of wildlife in comparison to players.

"The number of players is perfectly within the one designed for a soft opening," Henrique Fruet, a spokesperson for the CBG, said to ATR. "Despite adjustments to be made, success will be absolute."

Fruet would not comment on reports that the company in charge of course maintenance, Progolf, has not been paid. Neil Cleverly, superintendent of the course who helped oversee the construction of the course, told AFP that the maintenance staff is dangerously close to running out of supplies.

"What happens when we run out of gas or diesel?" Cleverly said. "None of us know if there'll be a job for us in December."

Fruet said that reports over the lack of payment for support staff at the course "does not apply" and "maintenance of [the course] will continue, and continue at the same quality level."

Golf returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1904. Although the tournament was deemed a success by organizers, the course development was filled with roadblocks. The course was built on part of a nature reserve in the upscale Barra da Tijuca area of Rio de Janeiro. Environmental groups unsuccessfully attempted to block construction of the course through various lawsuits. Construction was finished less than a year before the Games but fears that there wouldn’t be enough time for the grass to fully grow proved unfounded.

The course was built with private money, as developer Fernando de Carvalho negotiated tax breaks and exclusive rights to build apartment complexes around the course. After the Games, the course was expected to be the first 18-hole public golf course in Rio de Janeiro, with the CBG in charge of day-to-day operations.

In the final year of Olympic preparations, Brazil was hit with its largest recession in decades in conjunction with a political crisis. After the impeachment of then-President Dilma Rousseff just after the 2016 Olympics, new President Michel Temer has sought austerity measures to curb government spending. The recession has hit Rio de Janeiro especially hard, as the state had to declare a financial state of calamity to receive a pre-Olympics bailout.

Fruet acknowledged that while the recession hit the CBG’s timeline for finalizing the golf course, the course’s legacy will not be derailed.

"We know of the difficulties of implementing sports projects in times of crisis," Fruet said. "At no time have we stopped looking for solutions or had in mind to give up a project so representative for golf in Brazil and the world."

Written by Aaron Bauer

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