Men's Golf Answers Absent Stars With Dramatic Duel

Intense drama for men’s Olympic golf gold.

- Jim Slater

When the International Olympic Committee examines every Olympic event next year to decide its fate beyond 2020, golf will make a simple case to offset absent stars, remember the golden duel.

Golf's 112-year hiatus from the Olympic line-up ended with Britain's Justin Rose edging Sweden's Henrik Stenson for the gold medal, pitching the ball inches from the cup on the 72nd hole to set up a title-winning birdie after a day of intense drama.

Australia's top-ranked Jason Day, Americans Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, the world's four top players, didn't play, heading a list of about 20 top golfers who skipped Rio, many of them citing the threat of the Zika virus, which causes severe illness and has been linked to certain birth defects.

But 2013 US Open champion Rose, and new world number four Stenson, who won his first major at the last British Open, staged a shotmaking classic where the lead swung back and forth and displayed world class golf skills.