Woods gives thumbs-up to competing at the Olympics

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

CHASKA, Minnesota (Reuters) - Tiger Woods said on Tuesday he would compete at the 2016 Olympics if golf was added to the Games program after an absence of more than a 100 years.

Golf is vying with rugby, squash, karate, roller sports, baseball and softball and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will announce a shortlist of two sports on Thursday.

In two months' time a final vote will decide whether those two sports will be part of the Games program.

"If I'm not retired by then, yeah," Woods, 33, told reporters with a broad grin while preparing for this week's U.S. PGA Championship at Hazeltine National.

Again asked if he would compete at the Olympics in 2016 when he would be 40, the American world number one replied: "Yep."

Woods, a 14-times major winner and arguably the greatest player of all time, has been actively involved in golf's push for a return to the Olympics.

In April, he wrote personally to the IOC member for the United States in support of the International Golf Federation's bid.

"Golf is a truly global sport and it should have been in the Olympics a while ago," Woods said. "If it does get in, I think it would be great for golf, and especially (for) some of the other smaller countries that are now emerging in golf.

GOLFING EXPOSURE

"It's a great way for them to compete and play and get the exposure that some of these countries aren't getting."

Three-times major winner Padraig Harrington, the defending champion at Hazeltine this week, also expressed enthusiasm for golf's Olympic bid.

"I'd love to be an Olympian," the Irishman said. "Doesn't that sound good? Imagine us being Olympic athletes. I think it would be fantastic for golf."

Harrington felt golf's renowned etiquette and innate sense of fair play made it a natural choice as an Olympic sport.

"As a golfer, I would think we have all the credentials to be Olympians," he said. "Most of the time, we don't have referees out there. We are playing away on our own.

"It seems like golf was always destined to be an Olympic sport. I'm sure there are a lot of athletes out there who would never put golf (down) as a sport, but try to explain that to somebody who doesn't play golf.