Rory McIlroy: Golfers pull out as Olympics is not '˜pinnacle'

Rory McIlroy brushes an insect off his shoulder during a press conference before the Open de France. Picture: Richard Martin-Roberts/Getty

McIlroy, who is due to marry fiancee Erica Stoll next year, opted out of representing  Ireland in Rio, citing concerns over the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne virus which has been linked to defects in newborn babies and Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.

World No 1 Jason Day and US Open runner-up Shane Lowry also withdrew this week, joining a growing list which includes Australian pair Marc Leishman and Adam Scott, South African trio Branden Grace, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel and Fiji’s Vijay Singh.

Another Northern Irishman, Graeme McDowell also made himself unavailable as his wife is due to give birth to their second child during the Games.

Speaking ahead of the French Open at Le Golf National, McIlroy was coincidentally forced to bat away an insect as he answered the first of several questions on the topic, including whether the number of withdrawals meant golf should not have returned to the Games for the first time since 1904.

“That’s not for me to say,” the four-time major winner said. “I wasn’t a part of the process. The R&A and some of the other bodies that run our sport thought it was a great idea, and obviously it is, to try to get golf into different markets, and the Olympics is obviously a great platform to do that.

“I’ve said to people I have four Olympic Games [major championships] a year. That’s my pinnacle. That’s what I play for. That’s what I’ll be remembered for.

“Some people argue that it would have been better to send amateurs there, but the whole reason that golf is in the Olympics is because they wanted the best players to go and compete. But, unfortunately, people just aren’t comfortable going down there and putting themselves or their family at risk. I’d say if the Olympic Games were in most other cities or most other countries this year, you wouldn’t find as many people not wanting to go and participate.

“I don’t think it’s embarrassing for the game [golf] because most other athletes dream their whole lives of competing in the Olympics, winning an Olympic gold, and we don’t. We dream of winning Claret Jugs and green jackets. Whether that makes golf look insular in any way… it’s just the way it is.”

Although there is no vaccination for Zika, McIlroy recently had the others required to travel to Brazil and said in May he wanted to go and “give it my best shot” while he did not have a family.

The 27-year-old also said he did not want to let down Ireland’s golf captain Paul McGinley, with whom he spoke before announcing his withdrawal.

“That was probably one of the toughest phone calls I’ve had to make, because we’ve talked about it so much,” McIlroy added. “We’ve done so much work, got everything planned out.

“But then at the end of the day, if I’m not 100 per cent comfortable going down there, I just don’t want to put it at risk. There’s another Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020 and I’m more than happy to wait until then to get that Olympic experience.”

Asked why none of the top female golfers had withdrawn despite the risks posed by Zika, McIlroy added: “I guess some of the top women golfers might not have plans to have children in the next six months to a year.”

American world No 2  Jordan Spieth said on Tuesday he was “uncertain” about  playing in Rio.