IGF President Peter Dawson had spoken of his dissatisfaction at the progress of the course in the Barra Cluster following a visit in late March, although he admitted he was confident that the area would be ready come the start of action in 2016.

Two weeks after Dawson's comments, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced it would send executive director Gilbert Felli to Rio several months earlier than scheduled to oversee day-to-day business as part of a series of emergency measures to address delayed preparations in several areas.

Under his watchful eye, Rio 2016 has significantly increased development work at the golf course site, as the sport gets set to make its first Olympic appearance since 1904.

"I wouldn't say that more work has been done in the last 45 days than in the previous six months, but I wouldn't be too far off if I said that," Votaw said.

"The likelihood of a test event a year out continues to be improbable, and how much further within that year out we go all depends on our grassing schedule and how much the golf course matures."

Ty Votaw explained that the likelihood of a test event a year out from Rio 2016 "continues to be improbable" despite the significantly increased development of the course ©Getty Images



The next step for the development of the Olympic course is for it to be grassed, hopefully by the end of 2014.

Even if this target were to be hit, Votaw believes that holding a test event in August 2015, one year before the Olympics, on a course with eight months of grass maturation "wouldn't be a good step forward for us".

About 10 members of Rio 2016 have been in Florida for The Players Championships at Sawgrass to observe operations - including security, catering and ticketing - for one of the biggest tournaments on the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour schedule in the hope of gathering information to use in their Games preparations.

"For some of them this is a very big event and bigger than what they've worked on," IGF executive director Antony Scanlon said.

"It gives them a bit of size and scale of what they're facing.

"For others, this is what they expected.

"This is a sport that's not very large in Brazil.

"The proximity of the players to the public is something that most security agencies are concerned by, and the great expertise that the PGA Tour has here is allaying their fears and helping them with their fans."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2014: Fear Rio 2016 will not be ready to host test golf event because so far behind in preparations
June 2013: Bird's-eye view pictures of Rio 2016 Olympic golf course released
April 2013: Construction of Rio 2016 golf course finally gets green light
April 2013: Player reveals major disappointment at missing chance to design Rio 2016 golf course
April 2013: Rio 2016 golf course will "change the sport in Brazil" claim venue managers