Golf in the Olympics is becoming a farce: Six of the top ten golf players in the world — including top four Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy — have pulled out of the Rio Olympics citing Zika virus fears. Golf is returning as an Olympic sport this year in Rio for the first time since 1904 and the International Golf Federation has released the final list, topped by American Bubba Watson, of the 60 men eligible to participate. Without the top players, the Olympic event is “no bigger than a middle-of-the-road PGA Tour or European Tour event,” Alex Miceli writes for Golf Week. “Making the case towards the International Olympic Committee that male golf should continue in the Games beyond the existing point of 2020 has never looked more difficult,” Ewan Murray writes for The Guardian. Murray’s gender distinction there is on point: Only one female golfer has ruled herself out so far, although he concedes that retaining the sport as a women-only event is farfetched.

It all comes down to the money, The Economist suggests. Male golfers are shunning the Olympics because to them, unlike in other sports, a gold medal is not the sport’s ultimate prize, especially when compared to winning a major. More importantly, “flying all the way to Brazil means missing the John Deere Classic, a [USD 5 mn] tournament in Illinois, feeling jetlagged for the equally lucrative Wyndham championship the next week and, if they get sick, missing the Ryder Cup … For female golfers, Olympic golf is a better deal. Because far fewer people watch women’s golf tournaments, they are not nearly as well-paid as their male peers.”

World number three Rory McIlroy has delivered the “most withering” criticism of golf’s inclusion in the Olympics, saying the sport is irrelevant to context of the games and that he is not sure he will even be watching it.