CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- American Rickie Fowler relishes the idea of walking in the opening ceremonies at the Olympic Games. It is among the reasons he is pushing to qualify for this summer's tournament in Brazil.
But if golf is to remain an Olympic sport beyond 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and 2020 in Japan, it will need more people such as Fowler to embrace the concept, along with some better scheduling and maybe even a different format.
Golf's leaders have "patted themselves on the back for getting golf in,'' said Rory McIlroy, who then wondered why they haven't followed through to assure the sport will be well-received.
"It's off to a rocky start,'' McIlroy said Wednesday at Quail Hollow Golf Club, where he will defend his title at the Wells Fargo Championship. "If we don't somehow change the narrative to get people more excited about it ... I'm worried what will happen.''
In 2009, golf was awarded a spot in two Olympics as a trial run. At the time, golf's leaders were giddy about the prospects for helping grow the game in nations that otherwise might not produce golfers. They assured the International Olympic Committee that the top players would be on board, an assertion that took a slight hit recently when prominent players such as Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Vijay Singh -- all major champions and all likely to qualify -- withdrew.
Northern Ireland's McIlroy, who will represent Ireland instead of the United Kingdom in the Games, if he qualifies, understands the allure of the Olympics.
"I'm not one of those who is overly excited about it," he said. "But I see it -- the opportunity the game has with the Olympics.''
Yet he also understands the plight of Scott, who has come under criticism in his homeland of Australia for electing to not participate. Scott had made it clear all along that he did not feel an Olympic medal for a golfer was as big of a deal as one is for athletes who spend all their training focused on the Games.
What ultimately swayed Scott was a schedule that has the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, The Open, the PGA Championship and the Olympic tournament played over seven weeks and three continents.
"It was a very tough schedule,'' Scott said. "I just didn't get to see my family enough. I think I'm seeing them six days in seven weeks, and it would have been six in nine weeks had I gone to the Olympics. Those are just the hard decisions you have to make. That's the way it is, unfortunately, and that's the event I decided to skip.''
Fowler has scheduling issues that might cause him to skip his defense of the Scottish Open title he won last summer. He has not said if he will defend, but he made it clear that he will be in Rio, if eligible. He said it's an opportunity "to share the whole experience with other U.S. athletes and to be able to be down there and see the [Olympic] Village, go to the events, just take in the whole experience."
McIlroy believes the scheduling concerns are valid. He also wondered about the individual stroke-play format and suggested some sort of team event or a mixed-team concept involving female golfers.
"Imagine the exposure for them,'' he said.
Scott also endorsed the idea of a combined format, which has been dismissed for now due to various reasons.
McIlroy said one of his major motivations is not letting down Ireland's Olympic captain, Paul McGinley (who also captained the winning European side at the 2014 Ryder Cup). But bigger than that is the perilous state of golf in the Olympics.
"Because of how it's being approached in golf circles,'' McIlroy said. "I'm not sure we're going to have another opportunity to win a gold medal after [2020].''