Rio 2016: Golf millionaires settle into the village life

USA’s mega-rich golfers are enjoying meeting other athletes at the Rio Olympics, but they hope not to hang on the course with the world’s largest rodents or crocodile-like caimans.

Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed and Matt Kuchar are bedding into life at the Olympic Village ahead of Thursday’s return of Olympic golf after a 112-year absence.

“Seeing what it means to some of the other athletes, this is a special opportunity for sure,” Fowler said. “I had a warm welcome from other athletes and they were thanking me for being here. They appreciated me big time. They are glad we decided to come.” That's partly because the world's four top players — Australian Jason Day, Americans Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland — and many others decided to skip Rio, most citing fears of possible future birth defects linked to the mosquito-borne illness Zika.

“There will certainly be guys regretting not showing up,”Kuchar said. “I know there were concerns. A lot of things get blown out of proportion.”

A 60-man field for the 72-hole stroke-play event will find wildlife in abundance on the course with caimans and chunky rodents capybaras on the scene.

“Hopefully we don’t have any encounters,” Fowler said. "Capybara, it’s a decent-sized animal. I wouldn’t want to get in a fight with it, that’s for sure. And the caimans, I’m going to keep away from them.”