After more than seven months of delays on the Rio Olympic golf course construction, the sport’s international governing body, the R&A Golf Club, announced Wednesday that they’ve received the green light to finally break ground.
“I can announce happily that last weekend all the permits needed to start constructing the course was issued down in Rio so that work can now proceed at pace,” CEO Peter Dawson told AFP.
The Gil Hanse-designed course, which was due to break ground in October, was delayed because of a dispute regarding who owns the land. That was seemingly resolved in March, and Hanse and his crew have been clearing the land for the last month as they waited for the final paper work to roll in.
“If the construction schedule goes to plan, the course will be completed in good time for a test event and then for the Games tournament…” Dawson said. “It has been a worry what with all the delays, so let’s just hope we can get it done and crack on.”
Dawson added that he’s confident all of the world’s top pros will come down to Rio for the Games in 2016, where golf will return to the Olympics schedule for the first time since St. Louis in 1904.
