Golfing Bodies Unite to Press for Olympic Inclusion

Golf is to launch a concerted effort to gain inclusion in the Olympics, with the professional tours joining forces with the rule-making authorities to try to force it on to the summer Games schedule in 2016.

The disparate nature of the game's ruling bodies has been a barrier to the effective lobbying of the International Olympic Committee in the past, such that it failed to be included in the program for London 2012. Yesterday, however, the International Golf Federation announced that a dedicated committee embracing the men's and women's professional tours and amateur game representatives - including the R&A and the USGA - has been formed to drive its campaign for full IOC recognition.

The campaign will be headed by Ty Votaw, currently executive vice-president of the PGA Tour, who will work full-time on the project and lead a delegation to Beijing in the second week of the Olympics to lobby IOC members.

The IOC is currently looking for two sports to fill slots in the program that will fall vacant after the Beijing Games as a result of baseball and softball being ejected from the summer schedule. Both sports are seeking readmission when the IOC considers the matter at its congress in 2009, when they will be competing with rugby sevens, karate, roller sports and squash as well as golf.

The game faces a major challenge if it is to be successful, not least because an Olympic medal is unlikely to be valued more highly by the players than a major championship. The format is yet to be confirmed but men's and women's stroke play for the world's leading players is the most likely to be put forward.

One hurdle has already been partially cleared now that golf has adopted drugs testing across the professional tours since July 1, although it is not yet fully Wada-compliant, a pre-condition of inclusion in the Olympics. Scheduling could also be an issue, with the US PGA, the last of the year's four majors, in August, generally clashing with the Games.

No tests will take place at the Open this year but the European Tour revealed yesterday that it took six random tests at the European Open, all of which were returned negative.

Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A, said he was confident that the game would make a persuasive case to the IOC. Referring to the 2012 bid, he said: "I think golf was not really speaking with one voice at the time and we were nowhere near as advanced as we are now with our anti-doping policies and so on.

"We visited the IOC in Lausanne recently and it was made pretty clear to us at that meeting that a bid from golf would be warmly welcomed by the IOC, so I think we're in much better shape."