Zeon Zoysia Fairways for 2016 Rio Games

Zeon is a medium to fine textured zoysiagrass that is not only being used for golf courses, but for residential lawns, sports fields and on high-end commercial sites. The turf breeder says it's a low water user and stands up to heat, drought, insects and disease.

At the Golf Industry Show in San Diego, Dr. Frank Rossi, associate professor in the department of horticulture at Cornell University, reported that 88 percent of the grass for the new golf course being built for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio will be "Zeon Zoysia.' Rossi is a consulting agronomist on the project.

"Zeon Zoysia needs very little water, and very low amounts of nitrogen fertilizer," explains David Doguet, president of Bladerunner Farms in Poteet, Texas www.bladerunnerfarms.com, which says it is the "largest privately-held zoysiagrass breeding facility in the world." Zeon is a medium to fine textured zoysiagrass that is also being used for residential lawns, sports fields and on high-end commercial sites. The breeder says the grass stands up to heat, drought, insects and disease.

"The decision on the greens and green surrounds hinges on the quality of the water," Rossi adds. "If the water is good, the greens will be an ultradwarf bermudagrass. The surrounds will be another type of bermudagrass. If the water is not good, the greens and surrounds will be some type of paspalum, because the bermudagrass may not hold up to poor quality water."

Hanse Golf Course Design, based in Malvern, Penn., is the golf course architect.

Note: Golf has not been a sport at the Olympics since 1904. You no doubt heard that when the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) named the 25 "core sports" for the 2020 Games, wrestling was left out, meaning that most ancient of sporting competition now has to petition for inclusion! The good news is the controversy may help diplomatic relations worldwide. It's reported there's a possible alliance of the U.S. and Cuban federations on this issue! Delegations from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, the U.S., Russia and Turkey met in Tehran Feb. 20 to discuss how to reverse the IOC's decision. Image that: the U.S. and Iran discussing a mutual goal!