RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- A top official of the International Golf Federation tells The Associated Press that the new course for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will get its first test in March with a one-day exhibition event featuring “three or four of the top male and female players.”
Players have not yet been selected.
IGF vice president Ty Votaw says a one-day test event was chosen because a four-day tournament with a full field presented “a risk we don’t want to take” with the young layout.
Votaw described the course as “all grown in and green” but said the next six months were critical.
Golf returns to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years and is expected to draw attention despite a scant following in Brazil.
MORE: Olympic golf coverage