By Larry FinePosted 2008/08/05 at 6:11 pm EDT
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Michigan, Aug. 5, 2008 (Reuters) — Three times major champion Phil Mickelson said on Tuesday that getting golf into the Olympics would have an impact that would dwarf the game's major championships.
"I think having golf an Olympic sport is exponentially more important to the game of golf than the majors," Mickelson told reporters.
Mickelson launches his campaign for a fourth major title on Thursday when the PGA Championship begins at Oakland Hills on the eve of opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics.
"It would bring in 168 different countries and their Olympic foundation and all those revenues and that would be going towards the growth of the game of golf.
"The majors are incredibly big as we know, but we still capture the same audience that are already interested in the game.
"The Olympics brings us to new markets on a worldwide scale, and I can't imagine how big the game can become in countries like China and India that has so many more people than the United States does."
Golf officials have pressed in the past to get the sport included in the Olympics, most notably at the 1996 Atlanta Games when there was a push to stage an Olympic tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, permanent home of the Masters.
Even though this year's PGA, the last major of 2008, falls during the Olympics, Mickelson did not think scheduling conflicts would be a deterrent to joining the Olympic program.
"The first opportunity for it to be an Olympic sport would be 2016," Mickelson said. "Our TV contracts and sponsor contracts typically end in 2012.
"There would be plenty of time to factor that into the equation. It's only once every four years. It's not a big disruption by any means."
Masters champion Trevor Immelman of South Africa disagreed.
"I don't think that golf should be an Olympic sport, at all," Immelman said on Tuesday. "I don't think basketball should be an Olympic sport. I don't think tennis should be an Olympic sport.
"If I was running the Olympics, I would go back to the way it was originally -- gymnastics, weight lifting, swimming, track and field, marathons. That's to me what the Olympics is.
"To me the Olympics was founded on amateur sports. Guys go in there training for four years and putting their whole lives on the line to win a gold medal."
(Editing by John Mehaffey)
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