Archive for Saturday, April 26, 2008
Will greens and Olympic gold blend in 2016?
There are two openings for new sports in the Games that year, and golf’s one of them. It was last an Olympic event in 1904.
Tiger Woods living in a dorm room? Phil Mickelson carrying a U.S. flag in a parade? Golf in the Olympics?
That’s a possibility, although it hasn’t been part of the Summer Games in 104 years, since 1904, and it has only a 2-in-7 shot to be one of the sports allowed to be part of the schedule in the 2016 Olympic Games.
The International Olympic Committee has notified the world governing bodies of golf, softball, baseball, rugby, squash, karate and roller sports that they will be considered for two openings in the 2016 games, according to the Associated Press.
The IOC executive board will hear presentations from the leaders of the seven sports at a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 14 months and the full IOC then decides which two to admit when they meet later in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The International Golf Federation is responsible for the sport’s bid.
Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour’s commissioner, threw his support behind the movement after a meeting during the Masters with USGA Executive Director David Fay, LPGA Tour Commissioner Carolyn Bivens, Joe Steranka of the PGA of America, Augusta National Golf Club General Manager Jim Armstrong, Royal and Ancient Golf Club executive Peter Dawson and George O’Grady of the European Tour.
Billy Payne, chairman of Augusta National, is also a backer of golf in the Olympics. Payne served as the organizer of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
In a recent blog, Finchem said he strongly encourages the notion that golf belongs in the Olympics.
“I am now of the belief the time is right for golf to become an Olympic sport,” he said.
Softball and baseball were dropped for the 2012 London Olympics. Golf, rugby, squash, karate and roller sports were denied opportunities in 2005 to be part of the London Games.
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