If there’s one thing that unites the peoples of this birling clump of space rock known as planet earth, then it’s moaning. Well, that and the Olympics. From the pleasant market towns of the Cotswolds to the Federated States of Micronesia, the level of wide-spread, fusty grumpiness could become a Games event in itself as grumbling participants are propelled along a 50 metre track by the sheer turbulence of their own harrumphing.

Against this backdrop of groaning and grousing, it seemed that male golf in Rio was going to be overwhelmed by the same kind of begrudging air you get from a supermarket check-out assistant limply passing you a replacement carrier bag when the first one splits after you’ve tried to shoehorn a punnet of broccoli florets into its strained, flimsy embrace.

But wait. Following all the negativity, the withdrawals and the general sense of shrugging indifference, golf’s return to the Olympic stage for the first time in 112 years was pretty darned good as we were treated to a thrilling final day shoot-out between Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson. Ok, so it’s not the Open, the US Open, the Masters or the US PGA Championship but that in itself is its strength. It’s something different. And in a game often slow to change, that can’t be a bad thing.

The players who did pitch up genuinely looked like they were enjoying being part of something much bigger than themselves. In a selfish pursuit like golf, in which cocooned combatants are often blinkered by an over-inflated sense of their own worth and surrounded by a clinging coterie of nodding servants in their isolated comfort zones, it was clearly an eye-opening, uplifting occasion which they fully embraced.

"Compared to them (the athletes), we are so weak in terms of our attitude sometimes," suggested Martin Kaymer. "They do that sport with so much passion. They put all their heart in there.”

At times, the spoutings of cooing, gushing reverence about the whole Olympic ideal got a little bit schmaltzy and, dare we say it, a tad patronising. At one point, you half expected some golfer to go up to a weightlifter from Turkmenistan, pat them on the head and say “oooh, didn’t you do well despite your humble beginnings” in the same kind of way Prince Philip would greet a chamber maid during a tour of some stately home.

Goodness knows what the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and the other no-shows made of it as they were all gently damned for giving Rio a wide berth by this sense of goading piety from those who had opted in.

This was a week, though, in which the focus was on those who were there, not those who weren’t. Try telling Rose, all jubilant, roaring and fist-pumping in the glorious aftermath of his victory, that Olympic golf doesn’t matter.

When tennis first appeared in the Games back in 1988, the same questions and doubts about its worth as an Olympic sport given the four grand slam titles on offer each year were much the same as the head-shaking antipathy over golf’s inclusion. Almost 30 years on and the tearful tumult of another titanic triumph for Andy Murray had great swathes of a captivated nation gazing on with slack-jawed admiration at an athlete giving it his all in the quest for sporting greatness.

We can only wonder what the future for Olympic golf holds, if it stays on beyond Tokyo in 2020. When Old Tom Morris and seven other golfers contested the very first Open at Prestwick back in 1860, there were probably a few tut-tutting worthies propping up the bar in the town’s Red Lion pub and mumbling “look, there’s auld Tom and his cronies battering away but it’ll never catch on” between sturdy gulps of ale.

Who knows? If golf remains on the Olympic programme then it could become just as big as the majors. Prestige doesn’t happen in a week. It develops through time. The men’s four majors are different now to what they were back in the day when the Amateur Championship and the US Amateur were included on the list of marquee events. It is a process of evolution.

This week, the very best of women’s golf will be showcased in the Olympic spotlight. They have much, much more to gain from this chance than the men. You could say it’s another golden opportunity.