Rio Olympic Golf Course Eerily Empty Three Months On

RIO DE JANEIRO, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Nov, 2016 ) - Just three months after the Olympics ended, Rio's beautiful but controversial golf course is eerily quiet with the squawks of birds far louder than the whack of balls.

Built specially for the Olympics on what had been a nature reserve next to the beach in western Rio, the links-style course was meant to convert Brazilians to a sport they barely know and put Rio on the international golfing map.

Instead, the $19 million facility created by star US designer Gil Hanse risks turning into a white elephant. A payment dispute could even lead to the imminent exit of the company responsible for upkeep, raising questions over the course's survival.

During a visit by AFP this week, just three people were hitting balls at the driving range. The main course was closed for maintenance but even when open 20 people would be considered a good crowd, with numbers rising a little on weekends, employees said.

The clubhouse was not only empty but almost entirely unfurnished. In the cafe, which has no chairs, a solitary waiter and a second man there to collect greens fees waited in silence for customers.

A course that merely weeks ago hosted some of the world's best golfers has no pro-shop or a pro. There is no website. Even getting there can be tricky: there are no road signs indicating the entrance.

Perhaps encouraged by the lack of human activity, the Olympic course's wild inhabitants seem happy. Birds and butterflies flit through the rough. A capybara -- a squat, heavy-set rodent that grows to the size of a dog -- waddles next to one of the water hazards.

And when a big caiman -- a cousin of the alligator -- surfaces from the pond, the impression of a land that time forgot seems complete.