Despite recording a solid opening round of 70 leaving him at one-under-par, Padraig Harrington was highly critical of the golfers who didn't want to travel to Rio while speaking to the media after Thursday's round of play.
Harrington believes that those who chose to say away from Brazil will regret the decision, and feels that after the first few pulled out citing the Zika virus as a reason, a number of sheep followed them.
Harrington himself has been clearly proud to be representing his country at the Olympics, and send a tweet out after his opening round.
It's official I'm an Olympian.??@OlympicGolf #Rio2016 ??
— Padraig Harrington (@padraig_h) August 11, 2016
Harrington is tied for 17th, which he calls poor considering how he played, but he chose to use his time with the media to aim a few shots at fellow golfers who clearly don't care about the Olympics as much as he does.
I would have to say there was a lot of sheep in this decision. They kept just following each other out the door. It's hard to believe. It's a perfect time in the schedule. The four Majors are over, what else is there to play for this year?
I just don't understand what anyone else thinks they're playing for. There's four Majors and you've got the Olympics. There is no point in saving yourself for anything else.
When speaking to RTÉ, Harrington explained that the Rio course was one of the nicest he had played and said he would like to play on it for the rest of his life, perhaps making those watch a little bit more jealous at missing out.
Padraig Harrington was disappointed after his first round of Olympic Golf, but is confident he can improve #rio2016https://t.co/48bFWgRKFL
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 11, 2016
Hopefully Harrington can kick on and move up that leaderboard when the golf resumes. The final round is on Sunday.
