RIO DE JANEIRO — The first day of Olympic golf in 112 years was a golf lesson as much as a golf tournament.
Once spectators were past security, one of the first signs to greet them read, “Golf was created in Scotland in the Middle Ages.” Another pointed out that “the winner is the golfer who completes all holes in the fewest strokes.”
“Grow the game” was the mantra when golf returned to the Olympics, but there were few potential Brazilian converts on site at 7:30 a.m. Thursday when their compatriot Adilson da Silva became the first golfer since 1904 to hit an Olympic tee shot.