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Golfers get shot at gold
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close xCOPENHAGEN -- Golf has a tee time for 2016, and Tiger Woods can hardly wait.
The sport returns to the Olympics for the first time since 1904 amid the spectacular backdrop of Rio de Janeiro's sand and sea, giving Woods the chance to do something even the great Jack Nicklaus never did -- win Olympic gold.
Olympic officials had no sooner voted golf in -- along with rugby -- than Woods and his fellow players cheered their chance to finally compete on sport's biggest stage. They will compete for Olympic medals, but the greater promise is that the game catches on in countries where golfers are few and golf courses are even fewer.
"I think it's great for golf," Woods said from the Presidents Cup in San Francisco. "It's a perfect fit for the Olympics, and I think we are all looking forward to golf getting into the Olympics."
The vote for golf was expected, following a campaign by the sport's leaders to bring it back for the first time since George Lyon and the United States won gold medals at the Olympics in St. Louis. They promoted it as a way to bring a sport once reserved for the elite to the masses, even though it will add 120 men and women to a sports festival already considered bloated by some in the Olympic movement.
Nicklaus himself said Olympic gold would not trump the green jacket given the winner of the Masters or the claret jug awarded in the British Open, but would be seen as something hugely important in countries where the game now doesn't mean nearly as much.
"For most of the world it will be a new game, with a new goal to achieve an Olympic gold medal," Nicklaus said. "For a lot of the world, it's something that's unbelievably special as an opportunity."
Golf's boosters capped their push for inclusion with pitches by Ireland's Padraig Harrington, a three-time major championship winner, and Michelle Wie, who for several years was the world's best known female amateur player. Wie told the International Olympic Committee that putting golf in the games would give young girls everywhere something new to aspire to.
"I can dream about doing something that neither Tiger nor Ernie [Els] have ever done, and that is to make the final putt to win an Olympic gold medal," Wie said. "If this dream comes true, somewhere in the world there will be another 4-year-old who sees me on that podium and perhaps starts her own Olympic dream."
Golf was approved 63-27 with two abstentions, while rugby won near unanimous acclaim in an 81-8 vote with one abstention.
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