Justin Rose wins gold medal with birdie on 18

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Two major-winning golfers standing on the 18th tee, all tied up, the gold medal on the line … yeah, golf’s return to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years ended up pretty impressive after all.

Justin Rose of Great Britain and Henrik Stenson of Sweden delivered an Olympic-worthy duel for the gold medal that came down to the final green. Rose stood strong while Stenson wavered the tiniest bit, and Rose claimed the gold. Elsewhere on the podium, the United States’ Matt Kuchar rode a bogey-free final-round 63 to an uncontested bronze medal.

For all the drama, criticism and bad press that had surrounded golf’s return to the Olympics prior to Rio, the men’s event delivered a tournament that ought to have all who declined to attend rethinking their decision.

Rose, the winner of the 2013 U.S. Open, had already secured his place in Olympic history, having carded the first-ever hole-in-one in Olympic competition earlier in the week. He and Andy Murray, also playing on Sunday for the gold in tennis, formed a powerful rooting bloc for U.K. fans.

Stenson, meanwhile, found himself at the top of the leaderboard for a third straight significant golf tournament. Two weeks after sliding out of contention late at the PGA Championship, and four weeks after staging one of the most memorable duels in golf history with Phil Mickelson at the British Open, Stenson traded blows with Rose for the entire round.

With just one hole remaining in the tournament, Stenson and Rose stood tied up at -15, the gold medal on the line. After both men’s tee shots drifted right on the long par 5, Stenson’s approach kicked back away from the flag, while Rose’s settled just a couple feet from the pin. Stenson’s 25-foot birdie putt rolled just right of the hole, and then he pushed his par comebacker wide. Rose followed by making the most historic putt of his life, a two-footer for birdie that clinched the first gold medal for golf in the Olympics in more than a century.

Meanwhile, Kuchar, one of the Team USA players added only when higher-ranked notables like Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson removed their names from consideration, made an astounding run not only to vault into medal contention, but to slam the door shut on half a dozen other players who’d hoped to get into a playoff. He carded an eight-under final-round 63, putting several strokes’ distance between himself and the unlucky souls who ended up in fourth place and beyond. (Kuchar ended up leaving his birdie putt on 18 an inch short; had he made it, he would have been in a playoff with Stenson for the silver.)

“I’ve never been so happy with a third-place finish in all my life,” Kuchar said after the round. “The pride is just busting out of my chest.”

That pride in something larger than oneself, so often a missing emotion in the highest echelons of professional golf, was evident in every single golfer who made the trip to Rio.

In the weeks heading up to the Olympics, the only press that Rio golf had received was negative; players complained of the possibility for contracting the Zika virus, and the Olympics’ impact on golf’s already-busy summer and fall schedule was massive. Spieth, Johnson, Rory McIlroy, and Jason Day all declined to participate in the Olympics, and their absence, combined with the profound lack of excitement for Rio across much of the golf industry, appeared to doom golf to a two-Games-only stint.

But then the Olympics actually started. Rickie Fowler marched in the Opening Ceremony, Bubba Watson showed up at every event he could attend, and player after player raved about the Olympic experience:

We’ll soon hear whether the golfers who refused to go now regret their decision. The decision of whether to continue golf as an Olympic sport past Tokyo in 2020 will come in 2017, but judging from the on-course events of the last four days, men’s golf in the Rio Olympics was a tense, impressive success.

Live from Rio: Tara & Johnny Q&A, green fart water, and more:

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.