LOS ANGELES — It will be no more than an exhibition sport; it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; it will be awesome; let's wait and see how it feels once you get there.
These are among the wide ranging responses from top players as they prepare for golf's return to the Olympics at next year's Rio Summer Games after an absence of more than a century, a return embraced by many and panned by others.
For backers, the prospect of golfers walking beside swimmers and athletes at the opening ceremonies in Rio is an intoxicating one but critics argue that golf, like tennis, already has its four blue riband events and should not be an Olympic sport.