Norman hails Olympic effect 25/11/2009 |
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Greg Norman believes the decision to make golf an Olympic event will attract more people to the sport in developing countries.
Golf will return to the Games for the first time since 1904 at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
And Norman said: “For golf to get in the Olympics was the best thing that could ever happen to international golf. It’s a huge shot in the arm for countries like China, South America, India, the Asian countries.
“Just talk about China. Three million golfers there by 2020 and there will be more there than in the United States if it keeps growing the way it’s going to grow."
At 53, Norman spends more time designing golf courses than playing on them these days and he hopes one of his layouts could stage the Olympic tournament in 2016.
He added: “Fortunately for me, I have a couple of projects going down there and one of the developers is very much involved with the Olympic movement. Fate just fell in our lap, but whether we get the nod to be the golf course for it, I don’t know.
“We will see how it plays out. There is a scramble. Whether it’s [Jack] Nicklaus or Ernie Els or [Nick] Faldo, everybody would like to be that golf course, that’s for sure.
“Everybody has just got to sit back and wait and see what happens. We are in the design phase right now and I would say we will probably know in the next couple of years. We’ll start construction in the next year.”
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