Lyon's behavior is not the reason why golf disappeared from the Olympics after 1904, though he gave organizers grounds to rethink golf's place. History, though, says an internal dispute prior to the 1908 Olympics cut golf out, and the game has never returned to the Games. Golf doesn't need the Olympics. And, the Olympics don't need golf. Greg Norman, understandably proud of his native Australia's production of these Olympic Games, suggested recently that golf belonged in the Olympics.
Tennis is there.
Baseball is there. Dream Team basketball is there. Unfortunately, everything this side of air hockey is in the Olympics now, cluttering the Games. Golf should be there, too, said Norman, who will carry the Olympic torch in its final miles Friday. The Olympics should be about track and field, gymnastics, swimming and a handful of other events that live in the shadows for all but their golden moment every four years.