Brazil judge rejects request to halt Olympic golf course construction

Leave good enough alone. That was the pre-Thanksgiving ruling of a Brazilian judge, rejecting a plea from national prosecutors to halt the construction of the 2016 Olympic golf course on the basis that its design violates the country’s environmental laws.

Prosecutors have been trying for months to derail the project, ranging from demands several holes of the previously approved design be changed to this latest request seeking a total shutdown of construction.

Judge Eduardo Antonio Klausner said in his Wednesday decision there is “no new fact justifying … a halt in the implementation of the golf course for the Olympics.”

Developers and the city of Rio de Janeiro, host to the 2016 Olympics, agreed to relocate the course’s 12th hole to allow for a 109-foot-wide “wildlife corridor” to protect plant and wildlife habitats beyond what was required to earn initial approval to build the Gil Hanse-designed course.

The course is reportedly over 70 percent complete. With the finish line in sight, the course will start to grow in and be prepared for a potential test event or two before the games in less than two years.

Golf makes its return to the Olympics in 2016 after a 112-year absence.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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