Greg Norman reveals the role Seve Ballesteros played in golf’s return to the Olympic Games, ‘he’s the one’

Greg Norman has claimed that Seve Ballesteros was the person who got the ball rolling that led to golf eventually returning to the Olympic Games in 2016, as the Shark reflected on the decision of various players to not travel to Rio de Janeiro a decade ago.

Golf as an Olympic event has enjoyed a rapid rise over the last 10 years. While many big names snubbed the chance to travel to Brazil, the 2024 event at Le Golf National really displayed the considerable potential.

Scottie Scheffler produced a stunning performance on Sunday to take the gold medal, while Jon Rahm capitulated over the back nine to miss out on the podium entirely. Meanwhile, Lydia Ko completed her collection by winning gold, having won silver in 2016 and bronze five years later.

Greg Norman credits Seve Ballesteros for getting golf back in the Olympic Games

The events certainly captured the imagination. It was remarkable to see just how emotional Scheffler got as his national anthem played out. And it was most definitely vindication for the decision in 2009 to reintroduce golf to the Olympics after more than a century.

Interestingly, it would appear that the push to include golf in the Olympic Games started sometime before. According to Greg Norman, who was speaking on The Real Deal podcast this week, it was Seve Ballesteros who is largely to thank.

“He was my hero, and we always competed against each other, and with [Nick] Faldo, about number one in the world. One of us was always number one along the way. And we became very, very close friends, even though we were combatants from the first tee until the 18th green. We worked with each other. He worked on my short game, and I worked with his driver. But the point where I’m going here, he’s the one who came to me and said we’ve got to get golf in the Olympics. He said, ‘are you with me?’ I said, ‘100 per cent, I’d love to play for my country in the Olympics’,” he said.

“What he did, he went to [Juan Antonio] Samaranch, who was the President of the IOC at that time. Samaranch was Spanish. The conversations start, so he’s the one who got golf back in the Olympics, because what we realised at the time, there wasn’t a world governing body of golf. And the Olympics were never going to bring golf in until there was one governing body that represented all. So that’s how the IGF worked out. So God bless Seve. I had as much support as I could give him, and we got through.”

Greg Norman comments on players deciding to not take part at the 2016 Olympic Games

It has been incredible to see how quickly the perception of golf as an Olympic event has changed. Rory McIlroy claimed that he would not even watch the golf after deciding to not take part in Brazil.

A large number of players cited concerns over the Zika virus for their decision to not feature. However, McIlroy’s dismissive comments did sum up how many felt about playing in the Games.

And Norman revealed how disappointing that was given that he had a role in the build-up.

“I was involved with 2016 with building the golf course in Rio de Janeiro, I was one of the final few. So I knew the process that the IOC was going through to build an Olympic standard golf course, which is the best of the best. The quality and the standards of building the venue was one thing, comparable to a US Open, comparable to The Masters, comparable to any of them. It was the best. When I saw some of the comments about the players not wanting to go to play in Rio at the Olympics, I was like pull that knife out of my heart,” he said.

“It was killing me. If they knew what the history was to get to 2016 back on the Olympic agenda, they would then probably say, ‘gosh, okay, let’s do it. There’s been a lot of effort behind the scenes to get golf back in the Olympics’.”

McIlroy has certainly changed his view on playing in the Olympics. He missed out on a bronze medal in a playoff in Tokyo, while he also featured for Ireland in 2024. You would expect that he will be at Riviera in 2028.

In fact, it is highly likely that the Los Angeles Games will end up being one of the biggest tournaments of the year.