Golf was once an event in the 1900 Olympics in Paris and played again in 1904 on the course in and around St. Louis before being dropped. After a gap of 112 years, golf will make a sensational return to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro .The vote was a reversal of the International Olympic Committees decision four years ago to reject golf and rugby for the 2012 Olympics, bringing the number of Olympic sports back to the maximum 28 for 2016.
Golf was reinstated for the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games after the IOC assembly made the final vote for golf and rugby to be included as Olympic sports in Copenhagen back in October 2009. They are the first sports added since triathlon and taekwondo joined the programme for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Sergio Garcia said " To be able to be a part of the Olympics will be something unbelievable."
One of the main concerns had been whether top players would compete in the Olympics but The International Golf Federation has promised that the world's best will be there. The event will consist of a 72-hole stroke-play tournament with 60 players in both the men and women's competitions. One of golf’s biggest talents, Tiger Woods, has indicated he would play and welcomed the return of golf to the games and added "It's a perfect fit for the Olympics, and I think we're all looking forward to golf getting in the Olympics."
Now that golf has been included in the Olympics, the game should see even more growth. Many countries will see the opportunity to invest in golf in advance of 2016 giving hope to more younger players such as 16-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero - the youngest ever winner of the British Amateur title - to realise their Olympic dream. This thought was backed up by British Olympic chief Andy Hunt. "We currently have a wealth of talented British male and female players moving through (golf's) amateur ranks and are very excited at the prospect of what these young athletes could achieve at Olympic level.”
Jack Nicklaus said “Now the sport I have always called the greatest game of all can be shared with the rest of the world on the greatest stage in sports."
